Hiya Hvert!

If your friend restructures the job, will this guy still have any say over you getting hired? I'm sort of wondering if you can gracefully decline his offer to do another interview, without actually causing any problems should your friend succeed with the restructure.

I guess you can't really mention the possibility of restructuring to him - because he sounds like somebody that will vehemently want to "defend his turf", even if it shouldn't BE his turf...

So, I'm just wondering if you politely declined, something like... "Thank you so much for your interest. I enjoyed working with your company and glad that I could help out. Unfortunately, I've got some other projects that I've committed to in the near future, but if you need additional help in the future, please feel free to contact me." -- something that leaves it open to taking a position if it gets restructured ("oh look, I've just about wrapped up my projects and my availability has opened up considerably - well wonders never cease!") but politely takes you out of the running for this guy to hire - if that would be shooting yourself in the foot?

And yeah, people like that suck. There are just some nutty folks out there, unfortunately, and it's awful that you ended up with PTSD symptoms from your job. My job has some awfulness too, and I relate (a friend of mine who recently left was on anti-anxiety meds, JUST for the job!). It feels like our entire culture around work is *crazy* - and I'm not sure how to deal with it, or find a place where it's better.

(((Hvert))) Good luck! And, I hope you can find something that is actually a good fit, with a good team and manager that are sane and supportive, and not crazy!