The Big Sickie

The Big Sickie is the 2nd episode of the series. It aired on Teletoon in Canada on November 14, 2004, and in the United States on Nickelodeon on January 2, 2006 and on Cartoon Network on April 2, 2009.

The group is sick of work, so they decide to take a day off and spend it at Jonesy's new workplace, the amusement park. Jen isn't on board with this idea, however, so the group decides to get her to go with them no matter what it takes.

Plot
For Caitlin, Wyatt, Nikki, and Jen, work is verging on being unbearable. Caitlin has to deal with Stanley shooting her and demanding customers all the time, Nikki has to deal with the Clones and the conformity of the Khaki Barn, Wyatt has to deal with Spin This having a sale on country music, and Jen's boss Coach Halder is acting more overbearing as usual. Because of this, when Jonesy suggests that his friends take a day off and head to the amusement park since he can sneak them in through a side entrance, everyone is on board with his idea–except for Jen, who has just gotten off of probation at the Penalty Box and doesn't want to end up fired. Her friends are put out at hearing this, as they know that a day off won't be the same without all of them, but Jen refuses to be swayed by their arguments and heads off to work despite Jude giving a speech about the importance of the sick day.

The rest of the group is still in, and proceed to call off work in various ways. Nikki gets out of work by telling the Clones that a "friend who visits once a month is in town," while Wyatt escapes work by pretending to have a country music induced migrane. Jude, meanwhile, sets up a mannequin of himself at Stick It to avoid detection, while Caitlin makes a sign claiming she needed an emergency pedicure in order to get away from work. After calling in sick, the group of work-ditchers meets back at the Big Squeeze, but soon realizes that they're missing somebody: Jen.

Jen is still refusing to take a day off from the Penalty Box, so the group decides that they'll have to make Jen take time off from work. Nikki devises a plan to do so, and the group sets off to put it into action. This plan involves Jude and Wyatt as paramedics and a phone call to the Penalty Box.

Nikki's call to the Penalty Box involves her delivering a fake story about Jen's Aunt Barrel having suffered a horrible injury and wanting Jen to see her at the hospital. Although Coach Halder doesn't completely buy this story, he does call Jen over to the phone for a family emergency. When Jen comes to the phone, Nikki reveals the truth, but Jen refuses to leave work and hangs up. This prompts Nikki to move to Plan B.

This plan involves Jude and Wyatt pretending to be paramedics. When they're late to show up, however, Caitlin goes in and stalls, along the way adding to the realism of the plan by pretending to be another one of Jen's relatives. Coach Halder is convinced by this performance, and he lets paramedics John Gage (Wyatt) and Dude I'm Totally A Paramedic (Jude) drag Jen out of the Penalty Box on a stretcher against her will.

As soon as the group leaves, however, Coach Halder gets a call from Jonesy. In the call, Jonesy claims to be Jen's father, and tells Coach Halder that Jen needs to come home in order to clean up the detritus from a food fight. Upon hearing this, Coach Halder puts two and two together and realizes that he's been fooled. Halder plays along with Jonesy's plan and agrees to send her home, but as soon as he hangs up, Coach Halder leaves the store in order to hunt down his insubordinate employee.

While Jen isn't happy with how her friends lied to her boss, she realizes that she now has no way to go back to the store without causing Coach Halder to question her, so she goes along with her friends plans and soon starts having fun. Eventually, Jen gives in completely, and accepts that maybe she did indeed need to take a day off from work, as Coach Halder never takes time off and he's crazy. Unfortunately for her, as she utters these sentiments Coach Halder comes up behind her, having located his missing employee, and when she notices him he promptly dresses her down for missing work and puts her back on probation.

Quotes
Caitlin: What dream? Wyatt: The one about the cowboy who thinks that I'm the one who ran off with his wife to the big city and he's coming to kick my a– (spotting a cowboy) –AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! Nikki: (sarcastically) Yeah, like totally! Caitlin: You know you like totally put the "itch" in "b– Nikki: Hold it there my lemon squeezing waif! Jen: (pushing Caitlin off of her) Get off of me! I told you, I’m not coming, and that’s final! Caitlin: You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t come. We need y’all. Coach Halder: What’s going on over here? Caitlin: Coach Halder, she’s so brave. She doesn’t want to leave work even to see her poor darlin’ Aunt Betty. (Caitlin realizes she said the wrong name.) Barrel. But we need her. We need her strength more than ever! Nikki: (spying on the scene with binoculars) Huh. The girl’s got talent. (She spots Wyatt and Jude.) Finally! Caitlin: Oh no! It’s too late! We’re more desperate than I thought! (crying) Oh, I’m so glad you’re here paramedics (reading name tags) John Gage and...Dude I’m Totally A Paramedic?
 * Wyatt: I didn't get any sleep last night. I was afraid to have the dream again.
 * Jude: Jen, it’s your duty to take off work. No. It’s your destiny! Calling in sick is like a necessary part of the evolutionary process. Where would the human race be without a sick day? We’d still be living in tree’s eating bananas, fish, and things. We’re humans cause millions of years ago, some ape took the day off and invented tools. That ape decided I’m not going into the tree today, I’m going to go build a small car out of rocks or maybe teach a cow to give me some milk. Next thing you know, we’re golfing on the moon. Which further illustrates my point because, like even at the point when the astronauts were pulling this mad historical moon, they recognized the opportunity for goofing off. It’s like, one small step for man, dude, lets spin a few doughnuts in my moon buggy. The sick day isn’t just a fun thing to do, it’s a fundamental right of every man, woman, and child!
 * Nikki: Hey guys, I conferenced in Malibu Juice Barbie.
 * Nikki: (to Caitlin) You think you can just hang with us like some kind of insta-friend? I've known these guys since kindergarten. We have history. The only thing I know about you is that you wear a lot of pink.
 * Caitlin: These washrooms are totally gagworthy!
 * Caitlin: Oh, Jen. You’ve got to come! Aunt Barrel isn’t gonna make it

Trivia
Reason for firing: While it was never stated why he was fired, it was possible that he got fired for sneaking the others of the main six, including himself, into the amusement park without consent.
 * Jonesy's job: Amusement park operator.

Errors

 * Kristen is seen standing outside the Khaki Barn entrance welcoming and saying goodbye to customers. However, a few scenes after shows her inside the store with the other two clones.
 * In this episode, Nikki pretends to be Jen's sister "Vicky", but in the episode "It's Always Courtney, Courtney, Courtney!", which premiered later on in season one, Jen actually has a sister.
 * It is also never revealed why Coach Halder asked about relatives on the job application, as job applications generally do not have that as a question unless the applicant in question has a relative that worked at the firm.

Episode connections

 * Caitlin doesn't accompany the others of the main six when they ride the roller coaster. Though in the later episode "The Sushi Connection", Caitlin's dislike for roller coasters is one of the major plot points.

Cultural references

 * During Jude's speech, "Pomp and Circumstance", a song that's known for being played at graduation ceremonies, is heard in the background.
 * The roller coaster, known as the "Vomit Comet", is a reference to NASA's reduced-gravity aircrafts. One of them was known as the "Vomit Comet".