Blond Lady At The American Red Cross: Why Do You Hate Me?

My blood is liquid gold. Goes to preemies. So I feel it is my civic duty to go every couple months to the Red Cross. However, this visit was unlike any other. There's this blond older lady that works at the American Red Cross in my community. I've seen her every time I've gone and she always looks likes she's extremely unhappy with the way her life is going.

She's one of those people who you know doesn't want to make small talk (I'm a small talk kinda girl). She's grumpy at all times, and that day was no exception. She asked me all the usual questions: Allergic to iodine blah blah blah. Proceeds to swab my arm for days (which they are supposed to), marks my veins, and then says I'll be right back don't move. Eek! Don't tell me not to do something, it just makes it harder not to move.

She doesn't come back for another 5 minutes it seems and I'm sitting there (trying not to move, but playing Bejeweled (on my iPod) with my other free hand. So she comes back, grabs my arm roughly, and proceeds to stick me... I see my blood is flowing real slow. Seeming perplexed, she decides to stick the needle DEEPER inside my skin. Ow. Seems to work for a moment. Hold up, not working, so she continues to move the needle even more. OW OW OW.

Imagine videos you've seen of liposuction, when they're burning all the fat off, that's how she looked moving that needle around under my skin. Finally, her mean-looking face softens up when she realizes how much she just effed me up. Oh, she says, I think the needle went into the tissue. I'm going to call Anh over. Yeah, whatever, you do that. If I had known wanted you to work that needle like a video game joystick, I would've gone elsewhere. I asked the Anh lady how did this happen, but apparently they are not allowed to blame idiots.

So there you have it. They couldn't use the blood I'd given (about 40% of a bag) because once the blood is clotted, they have to discard. You bastards! If I hadn't gotten my free 125th anniversary Red Cross Umbrella, I don't know what I would've done, it seemed to calm me. I'm traumatized, but I plan to be brave and go back someday.

Moral of the story: If you live in the Santa Clara Valley in California, Do not, I repeat, do NOT let the one blond lady touch you, at all! Have a friend at my work who gives blood and that same girl touched her, same thing! I look like a druggie. :-(

(Not my arm, but you get the point.)