I have been happily living without a job for a few years. I'm nearing a point where money is going to be an issue. I need to start earning an income or looking for work.

A friend offered me a contract job with her new company. I took it and ran into a few problems. Some (possibly all) of the problems were caused by a single individual who interfered with the project at the last minute by arbitrarily ordering different equipment than what I had specified based on their requirements.

My friend encouraged me to pursue a more permanent contract arrangement. I had to talk with the person who had interfered with my project. Instead of discussing contract work, he started describing a full-time position, which was something of a surprise.

The conversation I had with him was pretty dreadful - I got the feeling that he was contemptuous of people in my field. He has left a key role unfilled for years and could offer no rational explanation why.

I described the conversation to my friend who told me to hold off on accepting any offer. My friend is trying to renegotiate the position. Long story short, the interviewer should NOT be supervising someone in this role. It makes no sense given the organizational hierarchy. A role that should serve the entire company would be buried inside a department that has a history of not getting along with the rest of the company.

I just got an email from this guy asking me to come back in for another interview with more people. I find myself reluctant to continue this process. I do not want to work for this guy. If my friend successfully restructures the position, I would still have to work with him, and it just seems like that would be even more awkward.

On the other hand, everyone is telling me to just take the job and quit if I don't like it. I think that would be awkward since my friend recommended me -- I would rather decline gracefully.

My last two work situations have been incredibly toxic and demoralizing. Both times I worked for insane micro-managers. I am getting strong signals that this guy is also a micro manager.