Charles Miller - Real names, please.

What left a bad taste in my mouth is what little respect you showed your friends. They are still there and they are probably paying the price for your ill-advised letter. I doubt that your friends were trying to screw you. The offer letter was most likely not the result of *their* actions.

But hey – that’s just my opinion.

Hey, don't let the bastards get you down. You did what you did, for the reasons you did. Nobody can read your blog and pass judgements on what you did.

Stick it to 'em!

my quick comments on your letter:

1. You can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped. (Criticism given to one who hasn't asked for it is never taken well in my experience). That doesn't mean you should have given it, just that you should have known that it wouldn't be received well (and perhaps you did know that before you sent the email).

2. It really is better to take the moral high-road, if you will, and to remain respectful and gracious through all steps of the job offer phase, even if you decide at the first meeting that you'll never work for the company you're interviewing with... Even if they do insult you with their offer and promises, it is most likely always smarter to play the 'respectfully declining and wish you best of luck' card than the one you played... I say this because a) you never know what's around the corner tomorrow, and you just might need that relationship you've developed with the interviewers and b) it's just more professional.

3. I dig that you wrote what you wanted to when you wanted to, and for that I respect you, but... it's not the way I'd have done it.

All of that being said, keep in mind, we're two different people, and I don't know the full situation here, so I'm not passing judgement, just trying to pass on a bit of my advice. Keep being you my friend, you'll go far. Just a little more polish, and you'll go very far, I'm sure.

So lay off

Congrats on the tell-off... Everyone needs one once in a while. Now just don't write something similar to Steve Jobs

I do have a high opinion of myself. I'm a smart guy. Should I go into anything in life thinking that I'm not worthy of being there? I'm good at what I do, and I'm passionate.

I'm also extremely hard on myself. You don't see that side very often, not on a blog anyway, but it's there, and anyone who knows me well at all has had to try to get me, at times, not to be so hard on myself. I'm honest and blunt, and never moreso than with myself.

I've taken myself to task for not saving the email for later review, but I'll also stand by what I wrote as what I was thinking at the time. I'm not one to dwell, and I'm certainly not skipping away from this without having learned anything. I don't know whether it says a lot or nothing about me, being public with both my successes and my failures, but this is a bit of both, and you can take from that what you will.

I've already taken much from this.

And, yes, we don't know very many of the specifics, just what you have written here. So, look at this from our POV, if you can.

You asked for a job from a friend. He provides you one. It doesn't live up to your expectations (in fact, some apparent lying is occuring.) Fine. You are well within you rights to turn the job down. But you should be polite about it. If he wants details, provide them to him one-on-one ("the numbers on paper were different than the ones out of your mouth" etc.)

Afterall, you were the one with your hat in your hand asking for a job to begin with. To be blunt, you did come across as a complete prick based solely on whatl you have posted.

Good luck.