Bad Experience with GE India

by Ruchi
(India)

I was very excited to get a call from GE. I know The opportunity to work with one of the biggest companies in the area excited me. The interview was scheduled for the next day and I was told it can't be rescheduled as one of the main interviewers was leaving for US that very day.

But it was my engagement at Agra the next day! Anyway, I and my soon-to-be-husband lived in Delhi and decided that he would drive me to the interview in the morning and from there, we would go to Agra - a three hour journey from Delhi. The GE office was outside the city - with no shops, restaurants, or even trees for a shade and it was scorching summers of India. The temperature was around 48 degree Centigrade.

So, when I entered my name in the visitor's register, I requested the guard to let my fiancee sit at the reception until I finish with the test. He agreed and let him go inside.

I had cleared first round of written interview and was given the second paper. I was half through it, when one of the security personnel came asking for me. Apparently, the security officer at GE had been rude to my fiancee about slipping into the office without permission and was threatening to send him to jail.

Not in best of the moods because of false allegations (and not very sophisticated with use of words, I admit), my fiancee told him that he was a respected journalist and had maintained all propriety on his side by taking the permission of the staff at the gate. He should go and question his security guard why he let him enter the gates, if it wasn't allowed. In reply, he was asked to show his press card, which he didn't have at the time and so, he was ridiculed and made fun of.

Anyways, when I came down, I was told that we will both be reported to police for entering the premises in the unauthorized manner in a very rude manner, which we certainly did not deserve. Mind, it was our engagement that evening. I did not want any hassles or get delayed for it! So, I agreed to sign an apology letter presented by them and pursued my fiancee to do so too.

I was told to get out of the building immediately along with my fiancee. I was hurt and had a keen sense of being insulted for no reason. The story doesn't end here. When I joined my office two days later, the supervisor called me and started shouting at me about going for an interview at GE with a 'boy'!? and misbehaving there. They said a call from the police station had come to the office stating that I had gone there with a boy and had damaged property and created a scene in the premises.

I was confused and angry. We went to the police station in the area and they told us that they made no such call. In fact, they had no idea of any case registered against us. So, we searched for the personal number of the security officer who had made us write the apology letter and talked to him. He said that he had no idea where the call came from.

When we suggested that only someone from his staff could have access to my resume and sought number of my office from there, he said that we were being absolutely unreasonable. My reputation in the office was of course hit and I became butt of all jokes at the time which was supposed to be the best time for me. The experience has made an indelible impression on my mind.