The giveaway is how often they say and they call themselves and their peers “straight forward and honest guys”. Literally it was said and echoed no less than 3 to 5 times per every call. Long story short, offer was soft and the speed at which they were working to counter all but guaranteed they weren’t looking to budge but just trying to hold on to my candidacy until they found someone else who was cheaper. Bingo. I press them after multiple weeks of “corporate is looking at it” and the guy responds that they hired someone else the day before. So think about that, I had an offer in effect and they literally hired someone else at the same time and I only found out because I pressed them. Wow. Its currently Dec 2021, if you are talking to them just know they are actively shopping the company.