Curate, connect, and discover
*cracks knuckles* I'm gonna take a swing at this and make some stuff up on the fly to get my mind off of stress...
I believe Pizzahead promised them that there would be a whole lot of cash for them if they worked for him. A much better income than the ones they had. An offer they couldn't turn down because what was the alternative? Ending up like Peppino's? Burnt to a crisp by the ray gun of corporate greed? They weren't gonna take the chance. Besides, they all had their reasons to get the cash.
First off, we have Pepperman. An aspiring artist who's studio crappy apartment was too small for his big dreams. He wasn't particularly fond of Pizzahead taking his work for granted, or the unrealistic deadlines for getting the portraits done, or how he was supposed to "punch the pizza chef with the silly little mustache's lights out once he's in your line of sight" but... with the new job he would get a proper studio, a steady income to pay for supplies, everything he needed. So he took the job offer.
Vigilante was barely surviving off of what little money he had to keep his grandpa's farm in shape. Even so, the property had so much damage to it. Fences that were rotting, rats the size of bears kept rummaging through the barn, it was an endless nightmare. Working under Pizzahead, even though this triangular-headed fella's motives were suspicious, would mean being able to pay for necessary repairs. It would mean being able to keep the only thing he had left of his dear late grandpa. He couldn't turn it down.
Noise... oh boy. The little gremlin had himself neck deep in liability, safety violations and restraining orders. He couldn't understand why, though. All show business has it's risks and dangers, why should he have to deal with this? Just because, what? The use of real-life explosives with no safety precautions? The people love that! He's just giving them what they want. So what if he doesn't warn his guest stars before blasting them with a sausage-shooting bazooka? It's a surprise, it's fun! IT'S FOR THE PEOPLE, THEY LOVE IT, AND HE LOVES THE THRILL OF IT ALL. Well, anyway... anything to get himself out of this mess.
LaItNeDiFnOc Si OnIpPeP eKaF tUoBa NoItAmRoFnI
Well Noisette needed money to run her cafe. Like Noise, she's in a bunch of trouble for no reason. Just because she like to experiment with food? Try something new? Just because once she cleaned the cafe bathroom with ammonia and bleach? She's just trying to live her life, goodness gracious. She didn't expect EVERYONE to like her chocolate-covered corn but this is ridiculous. She doesn't deserve THIS many violation accusations. Pizzahead promised to help out, even though even SHE was a little suspicious of him... but she decided to give him a chance. Besides, he gave her the coziest little spot to set up her cafe in the bowels of his septic tank :3
Snotty is loitering but we respect him for that.
Gerome... poor Gerome. He was blackmailed by Pizzahead that if he didn't get his sorry ass over and scrub all the tower toilets, his beloved brother John would be drained of all his life force to power the tower and his inventions to the fullest (kinda a theory of mine... what if Pizzahead was using John as a power source? Hence the background in the final floor and him being "reborn" if you get all the food treasure). Why would Pizzahead do such a thing? Well... let's just say he and Gerome had a very rocky past and they really, REALLY have no respect for each other. What happened between them is unknown and Gerome refuses to talk about it with anyone except John (who promised to keep it a secret).
The enemies and such ig were his underlings long before the bosses and their friends started working for him idk. Or some of them may have worked for Noise (like in the bad, the ugly, and the even uglier comics) and were roped into working under PH as well.
Some of you may ask "why isn't Mister Stick also working for him? Doesn't he want money too?" I think he probably did once but got fired/quit XD probably relating to a disagreement involving their inventions since their both inventors of gadgets and such. They probably stepped on each other toes so much they just both snapped and it definitely ended with Mister Stick saying "YOU CAN'T FIRE ME, I QUIT!!!" and now he's fully willing to help Peppino sabotage Pizzahead's stupid tower with all of his stupid inventions that stupid pizza-headed fu-
Curious if anyone has any headcanons on why each character decided to "work" at ("join", whatever the right wording would be, I dunno) the tower