It shouldn't be a surprise that the guy who created "Office Space" was
thinking about ways to quit the rat race, at least before he hit it big:
Judge’s frustration with his early experience in the white-collar work force had only temporarily receded, and it would soon come rushing back in the form of “Office Space.” The 1999 film reprised the characters from the “Milton” short and expanded on the theme it explored: the way work not only robs you of your free will but also refashions that will in its own image.
“For so long,” Judge told me, “I was wondering how I was going to make a living that wasn’t going to make me miserable. That was my main concern in life.”
He had an out: For a few years, he made a living playing stand-up bass with the blues guitarist Anson Funderburgh’s band. He moved to Dallas, where he bought a home for about $85,000 with his wife at the time. Back then, banks were still offering high-interest CDs that paid about 10 percent a year. Judge sat down one day to calculate how much he’d have to plow into one of these to avoid working for the rest of his life, living on interest alone. It was $360,000.
Man, I wish we had CDs that paid 10% per year! I mean, obviously that's just hindsight being 20/20. That may not have seemed like such a great deal when inflation was much higher. For all we know, 1% CDs will seem like a great bargain to people who live twenty years from now.
It also amused me to learn how many of his characters were based on real people he knew, like this secret Mustachian neighbor:
“Guidance counselors just pound it into us: science, college, science,” he says. But he had a technical degree and could barely afford his rent. His next-door neighbor worked as an auto mechanic, and not only did he make more money than Judge, but he kept flexible hours and seemed to be substantially happier. (He would serve as inspiration for Lawrence, the construction-worker neighbor in “Office Space”...
