From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Bad experience giving blood
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:01:41 -0400 (EDT)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

I've given blood maybe 200 times.  I've seldom had a bad experience.
My biggest complaint is being made to wait a long time.  Especially
if I am then turned down for a silly reason, such as having recently
visited Toronto, or not having any government-issued picture ID.
(The local Red Cross doesn't care about ID, but every time I've
tried to donate at a con I've been turned down for that reason.)

Yes, sometimes I've gotten a bad phlebotomist who couldn't find the
vein and wiggled around the needle to find it.  The result is usually
a large colorful bruise.

Sometimes if my hands are really cold they have difficulty getting
blood out of my fingertips to test for iron.

One time the puncture started bleeding during the donation.  I shifted
position to keep the blood running down my arm from getting on my
clothes.  The phlebotomist then angrily blamed the bleeding on my
shifting position.

Another time after I filled the bag and they unhooked everything and
bandaged my arm they realized that they had forgotten to fill the
sample tubes.  So they stuck me a second time, in the other arm, to
fill them.

A few times they've been upset that I leave immediately after the
donation.  What can I say?  I don't much like their snacks, and I know
by now that I never have any aftereffects from donating, not even if I
immediately start bicycling.

A very different kind of complaint is the time they gave away coupons
good for a free magazine subscription -- but when I tried to redeem
my subscription, the person on the phone insisted on a credit card
number, even though he confirmed that the card was not to be charged.
Since I don't have a credit card, and wouldn't have given them the
number even if I did, I didn't get any magazines.

I have gotten numerous shirts, movie tickets, umbrellas, carrying
cases, and other stuff.