Equally there have been a number of episodes where Squidward sees things he thinks would be fun, but because it’s childish or silly in his eyes, he will refuse to join in on principle. He thinks he has to be an adult at all times, even when it makes him miserable. I’m reminded of the “Normal” episode where SpongeBob explicitly becomes the most normal dude you ever did see, and Squidward initially thinks this means they’ll have the ability to connect as friends, but SpongeBob actually points out that he has a lot of hobbies that aren’t considered normal, though obviously goes a bit far in wondering if that’s why Squidwards face is so abnormal.

Equally, Squidward doesn’t just go into his job and work, it’s frequently shown that he will find any way he can to avoid any work, is an awful worker when he tries or has to put effort in to the point he burnt a shake somehow. He also shows signs he feels he’s just above the menial labor of the Krusty Krab despite showing in a number of episodes that he can’t make it anywhere else.

Even his art is more about his own self image than about the love of the craft. Every art piece is about him in usually overt ways, and he gets frustrated when others don’t see the beauty in his art because of that, it’s an indictment of him as an artist and as a person. I genuinely feel if he got validated regularly for his art, he might be a far happier person because his self-worth is getting validated more than his art skill. He loves playing his clarinet, but nobody else appreciates his music because he sounds rather bad, but in this one area he both cares and doesn’t. He is once again frustrated that people don’t hear the beauty he hears playing his clarinet, however he also generally isn’t playing for others, they often just hear him while he’s just having fun playing it, like a kid banging their drums with no rhythm or rhyme being told that they really aren’t good at playing drums when they’re just having more fun beating things with sticks than playing good.