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Until I visited, Bushnell had never taken a reporter to his company’s headquarters, probably with good reason. UWink occupies two little suites in a dun-colored cinder-block edifice surrounded by check-cashing stores and fast-food spots. There’s no receptionist or even a lobby to greet visitors — just a cluttered workshop full of computer equipment. Because Bushnell typically meets with visitors at one of the company’s three restaurants, he’s never bothered to keep things presentable. “It’s about as low class as you can get,” Bushnell says. “But who cares? It’s cheap, and my ego doesn’t need it. I don’t think we’d sell one more hamburger if we were on the fifth floor of some office tower.”

Max Chafkin. “The Gamer” INC. April 2009: 116

I’ve seen crappy offices of very successful businesses and beautiful offices of very crappy businesses.  I wouldn’t call uWink a successful business but Bushnell’s last quote makes a lot of sense.  “But who cares? It’s cheap, and my ego doesn’t need it. I don’t think we’d sell one more hamburger if we were on the fifth floor of some office tower.”  I’ve seen people set up offices for businesses that could have been just set up in their bedroom.  Why do they do it? Like Bushnell mentioned, probably for their own egos.

Focusing illusions even distort our judgments about ourselves. In another study, some college students were asked, “How happy are you?” and then “How many dates did you have last month?” The researchers found a pretty weak correlation between the level of happiness and the number of dates.  But then (hilariously) the researchers flipped the order of the two questions.  Suddenly, there was a strong correlation.  Having just confessed to a lack of dates, students reported that their lives were joyless.

Dan Heath and Chip Heath. “The Curse of Incentives” Fast Company Feb 2009: 49