One of the best questions to ask is "What percentage of the total outstanding shares does this represent?" Since 16,000 shares could be out of 100K, 1M, etc.
I actually had this issue bite me in the ass at my first startup, where I was offered a flat # of shares.
I was pretty much fresh out of college, but for the record, I did realize it was important to find out what percentage I was actually getting. When I asked what the total # of shares outstanding was, the company snaked its way out of answering the question directly. The job had a lot of perks (a big title, very respectable pay, work-from-home, greenfield development), so I took the offer rather than press the issue.
Eight months later, we were acquired. I was the only engineer. You could say I was a bit peeved to learn how little of the company I really owned.