Ummm, there is something here that I think people have missed. I only noted it because I have experienced it myself. The person doing the interview may have taken a personal dislike to the interviewee and used her inquiry as an excuse to deny her the second interview. I remember getting the same type of a reaction quite a few years ago after I asked something ( I can't remember what) after I had already been offered the post, but had not yet formally started the job. In fact, it was the same 'you don't value our company' thing. A couple of weeks ago, I was set to start a formal training on another job, and when I was asked if I could do it on Tuesday, I replied that I had an important vet appointment that day, and could I do it (just shadowing the owner for a few hours) on Wednesday? I got the response from the owner that she would check and get back to me on the weekend. The next day I had to take my cat in on an emergency, so I was now free for Tuesday. I let her know, but she did not respond. When I sent another inquiry, she told me she had scheduled another training that day, and gave me the blah-blah about always needing people, etc... . Haven't heard back from her. The key point is that the company is a pet-sitting/caring service, so penalizing someone for caring for their own pet kind of sends a certain bad message. The moral of both these experiences is that the companies were tiny, and owned by unprofessional people, and I definitely got the vibe that they were looking for an excuse to NOT hire me, more because of a personal dislike than anything professional. I gave them that excuse, and they jumped on it. I am, btw, in Canada, though in Quebec. And, yes, it is always appropriate to ask about salary and benefits. The person conducting the interview in the case you mentioned might even have been so embarrassed by forgetting to include that in the interview, she torpedoed the second interview out of spiteful embarrassment.