<P> The episode featured stock footage of Max Schreck as Count Orlok from the 1922 silent film Nosferatu . Episode writer Lender proposed the idea as a gag at the end of the episode, which series creator Stephen Hillenburg accepted . Before the idea of Count Orlok, Lender thought of "Floorboard Harry", an idea that was deleted . The episode received critical acclaim upon release . </P> <P> The episode begins with Squidward eagerly preparing to leave work at the Krusty Krab . Moments before he can leave, however, a customer shows up asking to be served . When the customer says that he will come to the Krusty Krab if it stays open later, Mr. Krabs is inspired to create a night shift, leaving an anticipating SpongeBob and an annoyed Squidward to work 24 hour shifts . </P> <P> Exasperated with his boss's demands and annoyed by SpongeBob's eagerness, Squidward tries to scare SpongeBob into being afraid of the night shift by telling him a made - up story about the "Hash - Slinging Slasher", a former fry cook at the Krusty Krab who accidentally cut off his own arm and was run over by a bus during the night shift, causing his death . Squidward continues by telling SpongeBob that every Tuesday night (the night it happens to be) the ghost of the Slasher returns to the Krusty Krab . Squidward says that the Slasher's arrival will be indicated by three warnings: the lights flickering on and off, the phone ringing but nobody being on the other line, and the ghost of the bus that killed the Slasher arriving to deliver him . </P> <P> Although Squidward, annoyed with SpongeBob's fear at the story, manages to convince him that he made the whole story up, the two are soon alarmed by strange occurrences that parallel the omens that signify the arrival of the Hash - Slinging Slasher later that night when the restaurant is empty . Although convinced at first that these occurrences are coincidence, Squidward grows more nervous as the occurrences continue . </P>

What episode of spongebob is the hash slinging slasher