Citizens Bank Via Some Generic Recruitment Firm In India

In September 2013 I received an email from one of those recruitment firms based in India describing a contract Art Director position at Citizens Bank. Pay was good, but it was covering for a maternity leave which usually means when it's over, it's over. But the recruiter assured me there'd be a good chance for a long-term relationship, so I decided to go for it. 

Landed an interview with the designer whom I'd be temporarily replacing; interview went very well, she said I'd have to come back and meet with her manager who was not available at the moment (had to leave early for some emergency with her kids). I said no problem, let me know when and I'll come back to meet with her.

The agency emailed me back with confirmation of interview with the manager. I arrived right on time at 1pm. The guard at the security desk in the lobby attempted to call this woman to inform her I was there, but he kept getting her voice mail. For twenty minutes I waited there while the security guard continued to try to reach this woman. Just as I took my keys out and prepared to leave she finally appeared; she had some ditzy smile plastered across her face completely oblivious to the fact that what she did was extremely rude, she barely apologized ("sorry for being late, couldn't find a meeting room"), led me up to said meeting room, and proceeded to go on and on about how she just doesn't know what she's going to do without [designer] because she just can't function without her!!! And all I could think of was that episode of "Seinfeld" where Elaine was interviewing for Jackie O's old job and the woman behind the desk just kept going on and on about how there's no replacing Jackie O. I always sympathized with Elaine's character when watching that scene; seriously, what DO you say in this scenario? Then she went into lecture mode about how when this gig is over don't expect any long-term work relationship (the opposite of what I was told by the recruiter). Again, what do you say (especially considering she wasn't even being friendly)? I then explained my work experience and skill set, after which she said something (I can't recall the exact words) that indicated she had not paid attention to one word I had just said. I pretty much lost it at this point by responding with something like, "I just told you I did that in my last job." Thankfully this "interview" came to an end right after that. Total interview time: ten minutes. I'd like to mention that I drove one hour each way for this.

I told the recruiter what had happened, especially with her being downright nasty to me; he said to not take it personally because she treats everyone that way. I brought up the "don't expect any work when it's over" issue which he again said to disregard...whatever. Never heard back about this job.

One month later, I got an email from the same recruiting agency for the same job, except that it had changed to part-time (20-30 hrs a week) and working from home. I emailed back explaining I believe I've already interviewed for this job; the previous recruiter called me and told me that they in fact hired NOBODY for that job. And, once again, I am left wondering just what the hell is going on in America...