Much of Walter White's life prior to the events of Breaking Bad season 1 were spent underachieving and 'making do'. When we meet him Walt is a long-serving high school chemistry teacher with zero aspirations and even less motivation to make a change in his life. Walt and his dowdy wife Skyler must scrimp and save and cut corners just to get by because the wage of a chemistry teacher - who also works nights as a cashier in a car wash - is simply not enough. As the show develops we learn that Walt was once part of a project that developed into a billion dollar empire but because of his own sloth-like tendencies he sold his stake in the company before it ever took off and as such lost out on millions and millions of dollars. Oh what could have been if Walter White had not spent most of his adult life as a average, lazy nobody?
