Juniper Seminar: Humiliated for being HONEST !

Today there was a Juniper Seminar regarding their new product launch of L2 and L3 switches.
So excited that I was, I registered for their Seminar at least 3-4 weeks back.
And when I did attend it, half way through the session, during the lunch break when i was chatting with some old friends from my ex-companies, I was interrogated by several OFFICIAL Juniper people, as to why a Cisco Employee was attending the seminar.

They even asked me what I do and whom i report to . To which i politely answered.
Even then it wasn't reassuring to them. They felt it was inappropriate for a Cisco Employee to attend a Juniper Seminar.

They asked me to leave mid-way through the session.

WHY ?
I am still flabbergasted !!

I guess if i would have registered as a NON-CISCO employee ( like I have had attended all these years) they wouldn't have any issues.

So to put it simply: When Attending Juniper Seminar: Honesty is not the best policy !
After all I was humiliated and asked to leave mid-way was inappropriate for juniper to do, considering that I had registered 3 weeks back and had clearly filled in their online forms mentioning my employment with Cisco.

Also whats surprising is, it was not a CONFIDENTIAL ( by invite ONLY/ Closed Door) seminar. It was a Public Launch of their new switches. So i ask, what did they feel threatened from me attending their seminar ?

Over 300 people attended it.
I guess their are some cranky heads in Juniper India, Mumbai, who have lost their marbles.

I am a fan of their netscreen products and was wanting to learn more on those.
Just to clarify then and now as well, I have worked on NS500 and NS5200 for almost 1 year in my prior companies. Infact there were some support engineers whom I had interacted face to face for Netscreen issues then.

So by just joining Cisco, and mentioning that on the Registration Desk, Am i to be penalized ?
I am disappointed, Juniper India, Mumbai people let me down.

I guess they realize sooner than later that, by filtering out Cisco Employees from their seminars they are not really achieving anything.

I wonder what they would have done if Alcatel/ Nortel Employees would have attended ???
Wouldn't that be an issue ?
What is so threatening if a Cisco Employee attended their seminar ???

Some whimsical old nuts out there in Juniper.
I just wish that the right people (probably Public Relations) in Juniper (Worldwide) see this and ask for a rational explanation from the organizers in Juniper Mumbai.

If they really didn't want Cisco Employees to attend, why not CALL them on their provided contact number during registration and refuse. Why humiliate them when they have spent considerable time/resources to reach the seminar !



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