I absolutely agree with you. Any time you hafta let your child go (daycare, school, sleep-overs, driver's license, college, marriage...) it is scary and you can almost always trust your gut.
We were moving and needed to switch day cares for our 2 yr old. We interviewed someone in our new neighborhood. Like your story, she kept talking about trivial stuff, leading the conversation away from her policies, her approach to child care, her approach to potty training, etc. She just gave me an "oogy" feeling.
My husband and I walked out and I shrugged and giggled and said, "Well, I guess that was a bust." While almost at the same time, he burst out with, "So it looks like we found the place!" I was aghast but he was so convinced I let him override mommy radar.
Long story short, our son was there for just two weeks. Besides her pure laziness...She said it was ridiculous that a 2 yr old wasn't potty trained. We calmly redirected her and said we had a plan and were sticking to it. That last day, we picked him up and were greeted with this: "Your son is defiant. I put him on the potty and he WOULD NOT GO. But I made him sit there and then do you know what he did? He masturbated! That's is just disgusting and defiant." I can feel my heart racing just thinking about this. But all we could do was sweep up our son, race out...I think we left his shoes behind. We never ever went back. To this day, I wonder if she made him sit there was hours in anxiety and confusion. And seriously....2 yr olds cannot masturbate.