[island_dude]

Many years ago I was invited to interview for a job at an MIT lab by a friend of mine. They set up the interview with the HR dept (then called personnel). I was pretty nervous being young and intimidated. They did absolutely everything in that office to make me feel small and unworthy before my interviews.

The interviews went great ( I got grilled of course). When I came back to the manager's office he said that they would hire me, but don't tell HR yet. Meanwhile they said to come back the next day to play with their toys and hang out with the team -- Don't tell HR though.
I went back to the HR office and some pathetic flunky was describing how lucky I would be if by some miracle they would make an offer. I mean really laid it on thick. I was laughing to my self because I knew I was already in.

The postscript to this is that when I left I had to deal with the same idiots. They had been keeping the lid on my pay for years. The guy asks "by the way how much of an increase did you get?" When I told them I doubled my salary the idiot thought I was lying. I offered to fax a copy of the offer letter to him as proof, and he said it wasn't necessary. I forced him to listen to me read it to him anyway. Pathetic creeps.