Oh, Mystic Pizza!
In Connecticut, we all know that Mystic Pizza isn’t the best pizza in the state. (I’m not even going to get into the argument about Pepe’s, Sally’s, or Modern in New Haven.) One of my favorites is actually Harry’s Bishops Corner.
But Mystic Pizza still has a place in many of our hearts in the state due to a film in 1988 of the same name. After all, how many movies before it were filmed in Connecticut? (Turns out there are 81 films total. Who knew?)
And better still, it starred Julia Roberts, right before she really hit it big in Pretty Woman. And so, Julia Roberts, became one of us.
Sure, when you visited the real Mystic Pizza, it was nothing like the romanticized version in the movie. But still, it was MYSTIC PIZZA!
Alas, I was distressed to read that the famous pizza place was recently cited for wage & hour violations. Specifically, 110 employees will be paid a total of $105,000 because, the state Department of Labor found, they were paid less than minimum wage or did not receive overtime.
Unfortunately, it’s a scenario that gets played out too often and could easily be remedied.
But perhaps, I should not be too distressed. Maybe Julia Roberts can star in a sequel about an owner who takes over Mystic Pizza and hires a prominent employment law attorney to help make the place a big success again.
Did I mention I’m available?