Quelles sont vos pretentions salariales?

Thursday over, I've already had 3 interviews this week and I'm having the fourth tomorrow.

The one on tuesday (Eurocopter, Marignane) went wayyyyyy to well for me. The job would be awesome (core calculations on all main rotors of the Eurocopter helicopters, with expertise in performance, mechanical loads and acoustics), I'd be trained for 300 hours in the first year, and well, I'd be working on the main element of helicopters.
The whole trip wasn't quite as interesting, the inner marseille, between the Gare St Charles, the Cannebiere and the port is the last place I want to visit again. Filthy, overcrowded, and a place you don't feel comfortable walking through in suit and tie. You kinda feel like an alien, and a few times like a source of easy income. Blah. Overall, I spent almost 150 euros for this trip, but it may be worth it. And, Kala, next time, I'll organise myself a bit better so we can meet up somewhere!!

Wednesday was a tough one. I was awoken by my cellphone at 10:30 am, scheduled an interview at 14:00, and got ready as fast as I could. The interview didn't go too well, but the job wasn't in my field anyway.

And today was the worst interview I've had since I've started looking in January. I should have visited the company before, but after mucho problems cancelled a previous interview. So I went back and met one of the department bosses. He started by presenting the company, which operates outside of my usual scope and is known for a financial scandal from a few years back. That guy probably missed his opportunity as a TV news anchor, that same detachment of every word, slow pronunciation and exagerated tone, plus the gaze. Blank. Text learnt by heart, no possibility to interact.
Then I presented myself, got interrupted a few times, attacked on the fact that I wasn't a pilot. "Students can have good discounts and you should have done it". Yeah, well, I spent close to 90 000 euros of my parents money to get an education, so cut the crap. Plus, I don't really feel the need for piloting.
When he got in the end that I wasn't the person he saw through my resume, I got the blame for choosing the internships and jobs I got. I was sure he was the one who called me for an interview, not the opposite.

Then came the Question. Quelles sont vos pretentions salariales?
The quick answer is 28-30 kE, market value, negotiable.
The long answer is it's not up to me anyway, I'm a junior engineer, your firm has grids to decide how much you can pay me, and there's nothing I can do about it. So don't ask like you care.
As far as I was concerned, I didn't much care what he thought anymore. And yes, I know all firms ask that or "Quelles sont vos exigences salariales?", and I reply pretty much the same thing every time, "28-30, negotiable, and your grids will tell you how much you can pay me".

We finally reached part 3 of the interview, and the discussion went approximately like this:

Him: What do you expect from this interview?
Me: Get to know your firm in more detail, which I did in part 1 of the interview and discuss possible missions you may have that would suit my profile.
Him: Let me rephrase, my goal in this interview is to start a contact with you and see if we could extend our collaboration through a second interview with a service manager and then through a third interview where we would finally propose you a mission.

Please, sir, can I go? You don't give a damn what I think, we're not discussing, you're interrogating me instead, and you have nothing interesting for me... The rest of the interview kept at the same aggressive and unconstructive level.
When he finally released me from this inferno, I removed the business suit, exchanged the glasses for sunglasses, rolled my sleeves and cycled back like I was on holidays :-)

I'm a blunt guy, I'm not a diplomat, I'm here to do a job, and I'll only make ronds de jambe up to a point. Gimme me a mission and I'll tell you if I can do it or not, invite me to talk and face my indifference.