The most common causes of this issue are:
Series Continuity Error: None of the residents in Rock Bottom speak the language that they do in the show.
Being that these are the only ways to complete the quests, you really dont have much of a choice. Over the course of the game, SpongeBob takes an empty can from a stranger (Who explicitly refused to give said can up seconds before), breaks into Waverly Hills, steals a jacket from a fancy restaurant (although he cant return it because they kicked him out), steals Squidward's clarinet while he's asleep (Ruining Squidward's dream in the process), and scams a repairman by giving him the wrong soda in the aforementioned stolen can (The bar was out of the soda he wanted, but SpongeBob could have just told him), and never gets any consequences. Protagonist-Centered Morality: The game has our porous pal do some rather questionable things.However, they forget to remove his jacket, allowing SpongeBob access to Oxygen Springs. Persona Non Grata: SpongeBob gets banned from Sublime Seafoods when he orders a krabby patty, which is considered "despicable".Informing the Fourth Wall: Using something in the wrong place prompts this message:.Inexplicably Identical Individuals: The anchovy guy that SpongeBob assumes is the same guy he meets every time turns out to have hundreds of brothers who look just like him.Get Out!: The lobster waiter says this word-per-word to SpongeBob in Sublime Seafoods when he orders a krabby patty, which is considered "despicable", resulting in him banned from the restaurant.Gasshole: Mermaid Man becomes one from all the cola he drank during the aforementioned drinking contest.
SpongeBob expresses frustration about this at one point.
Drinking Contest: Patrick and Mermaidman have a cola-drinking contest in a bar in Rock Bottom.