I was headhunted for a similar job and offered about half again what I earn now- but like the OP- it was in NYC. NYC seems to have higher paying jobs in some professions. However, I saw what the COL was like and I demurred. Besides, I have never lived off the West Coast, and can’t see adjusting easily at my age.
Yes.
I’ve had two friends who were lured to new jobs by absurdly high offers. Both instances, the bosses were psycho, one dangerously so. These were bosses who believed the extra in your salary made the worker their personal whipping boy. Both instances, they learned that money is not necessarily everything.
Joking? I was totally serious. I know people who do both.
Make sure you can do everything listed in the job description. And if you can’t, make sure they know that before you take the offer.
I was recently offerer (and accepted) a position for what I thought was WAY too much money. Part of this is that the client already knew me and claims that they wanted to get me in the door no matter what, but I was worried because the JD called for some skills that I don’t have. Hell, there were some big words in there that I didn’t even know 
I made damn sure to bring this up during my interview with both the consulting firm and the client so that there wouldn’t be any suprises down the road when the client claims to be dissatisfied with my inability to do a, b and c.
Indeed. Not only is paying “$850/month to sleep on a couch” unremarkable (or at least not uncommon), there was a column in the NY Times recently about some guys rooming together in an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (best known as where A Tree Grows In Brooklyn takes place, and a newly “rediscovered” neighborhood for yuppies) who put in a listing on craigslist for another roommate:
The article went on to describe how increasingly, young people looking to share space with strangers are offering services in lieu of money in the search for affordable housing. (not that… well, not openly, even on craigslist… More like cooking, doing 100% of the housework, or massages without the quote-marks).
Really, 4 people living in a one-bedroom apartment for $2,500 a month? Are they that desperate to live in Manhattan?
I’m sorry that looked like a joke, because I was incapable of believe people could be that stupid when they could just live in the outer borough. That is more than my mortgage & taxes and I could commute to NYC from where I live and my neighbor does. My Brother-in-Law apartment is in the $2500 range, but it is just the 2 of them. The live for the culture of NYC, but why would a family of four choose to live in a one bedroom?
Jim
Actually they were not being paid too much. Rather they were being paid too little to put up with the boss’s shit.
I know two families that do this – both have people working on PhD’s or post-docs, so they’re certainly not stupid. They’ve got apartments right next to their lab, so they can go back and forth at all hours of the day and night, seven days a week.
If they lived in Queens or Brooklyn, they’d save on rent, but would easily spend 20 hours a week commuting. Or they could just spend 16-18 hours a day in the lab, because they wouldn’t have enough time to go home before they’d need to go back.
This way they spend more money, but it’s actually feasible to work 60-80 hours a week, see their families and eat home-cooked meals.
Just FYI, I accepted a job offer with another company, for less money, but better benefits and less on-call. It was a tough desicion, and I guess I’ll never know if I made the right one. Thanks for all your input.
Congrats on the new job. 
Another SA checking in. Even though the amount was high, it clearly wasn’t enough to get you to say yes. The next guy in the chute will probably get an even higher offer. I know quite a few folks working the NYC market. $100K to $120K is not unusual. If they have to pay for a contractor in the mean time, they are probably paying upwards of $250K a year. And I know I would give a few thousand back to get less on call.