MADNESSDAY. "Mr. Pitty" pizza

A small fragment from the Madness Day universe.
“... Mr. Pitty's Pizzeria was opened in 1968 in Portland, Oregon. This place, according to the concept of the creator, was to become a family restaurant intended for large families. The restaurant's logo was inspired by a drawing by one of the creator's children, where the pizza looked like a funny cartoon face. After a resounding success, similar restaurants were opened in the states of Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and California. The franchise was purchased by X.L. Entertainment in 1971. After that, under the logo of "Mr. Pitty" family entertainment centers began to appear, which combined a restaurant-pizzeria, a children's play area, as well as a hall with animatronic dolls. The corporation has invested heavily in this concept, hoping that the fun, advanced robots will appeal to a family audience. The design of the robots is specially designed to look friendly and fun, and was based on Mr. Pitty himself - the franchise's unchanging mascot. Robots were far ahead of their time in many ways (perhaps because X.L. Entertainment, in addition to the entertainment sector, was developing military robotics), for example, they were able to move around the hall, track the movement of children, pronounce pre-recorded phrases in response to questions . All this, including the miniature size of the robot in comparison with the animatronics of competitors, caused an incredible sensation. By 1994, "Mr. Pitty" had at least one outlet in every US state (except Alaska and Mexico City), and was about to enter the international market.
Alas, the plans were not destined to come true. The reputation of the restaurants was dealt a serious blow after a series of scandalous incidents. As it became known, entertainment centers, investing in robots and the outer facade of the franchise, severely saved on staff and building materials. Several former employees sued the corporation for inhuman working conditions in the kitchen, delays in salaries, and so on. Also, some pizzerias turned out to be unacceptable unsanitary conditions, which led to several poisonings. In addition, according to the FBI investigation, "X.L. Entertainment" was involved in a corruption scheme in which several senators were involved. There were also conspiracy rumors that videos of children recorded by Pittybots were copied onto cassettes and sold on the black market, but there was no evidence of this. The final nail in Mr. Pitty's coffin was a fire at the Family Entertainment Center in Nevada due to faulty wiring, during which 8 people died due to suffocation (three of them were children). Trust in institutions was undermined. In 1999, "X.L. Entertainment" declared itself bankrupt, and in order to pay off debts, it was forced to put the premises of entertainment centers on sale. However, due to the damaged reputation, and the high cost of maintaining animatronics, there were few buyers. Some former restaurants have stood for almost 20 years in an abandoned state, complete with all the equipment and robots.
Gus, the drummer and founder of Madness Day, had fond memories of Mr. Pitty's Pizza. It was one of the few places his mother took him to as a child, as it provided cheap food and a play area while she went out with her friends. Not surprisingly, Gus felt nostalgic joy when he stumbled upon the abandoned Mr. Pitty restaurant during the Big Summer Trip across the USA. Of course, the drummer could not help but climb into the room, wander around inside, and take the dismantled Pitty Boat out of the warehouse in order to fix it later, call it "Gus Junior", and carry the whole trip with him ... to sell later on E-Bay for 100 thousand dollars. Because nostalgia is good, but Gus Rodriguez will not miss his benefit) ... ".
This work was inspired by Simon Stalenhag's amazing book The Electric Staff. Indirectly, at least.