I have on 2 separate occasions... when, I against my better judgement, took some consulting work with obvious clients from hell. Immediate not so subtle threats

I have on 2 separate occasions... when, I against my better judgement, took some consulting work with obvious clients from hell. Immediate not so subtle threats from the beginning. Turned out that all of their previous contracting experiences with others had ended up a disaster, as did my experience with them. It's the threats that pretend not to be threats that really seem to be one of the strongest indicators. Yeah, at this point I'd assume that anyone who's making any sort of threats from the very start is going to turn into one of these employers from hell. True or not. Actually, I'd be surprised if the OP isn't the employer from hell. Trust your first instincts on this stuff guys.