Sorting thru and clearing out the huge pile of gmail after a week of vacation is a painful rectal itch!
That's like me freaking out about a background check with my new employer
They tend to do that. Nothing to freak out about, but I guess the US might be different from the EU in that respect.
I've been interviewing lots and lots of people lately since apparently it's one of my responsibilities these days and we really need developers (I told them so, which is why the interviews happen), and we do check them to some extent. Above all, though, we give them a test I wrote to gauge their capabilities and approach to problem-solving.
That test saved us once or twice.