There is nothing wrong with a synthetic benchmark...as long as the person understands the intricacies of the tests.
Try clearing all the caches before disk tests:
sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
I guess "too much money" needs a definition.
Asking for the high end, maybe even slightly above an expected salary scale is ok in my book.
The problem is when the requested pay is way off the expected range.
Tony Stewart ran over and killed a driver he had just had a collision on a prior lap.
Pretty graphic:
http://deadspin.com/reports-tony-stewart-ran-over-opposing-driver-during-1618893708