The staff were pretty kind all around, facility was clean.
The dystopian aspect was how many people I saw denied, because they had donated yesterday. You can give twice a week, but have to wait a day in between. I saw at least four or five people get turned away, and they were all pretty upset. The line was extremely long - there are tons of people desperate enough to wait in line for hours to go through the painful process of having their blood sapped out.
I also got a preloaded card as my payment, which has a ton of fees associated with it - I’ll get charged if I use it at an atm or check the balance. I know these cash cards are often also used to pay people who work at like McDonald’s - it just seems like so much of the US is designed to nickel and dime the shit out of the poor.
I work in plasma, and deferring donors is by far the most difficult part. I had to send three people home just today for having out of range hematocrit. The look of devastation on their faces when they find out they’re not getting paid nearly brings me to tears every time. Sometimes they get angry and yell at me, and I just let them do it until they tire themselves out because I know how desperate they are. I’m just thankful that I’m primarily a lab tech and don’t have to deal with the donor side every day; I don’t think I could take it psychologically.
I got deferred years ago because a batch test including my sample came up positive for hepatitis (I forget which type.) I immediately went to my doctor and got tested. I had no risk factors, so the doctor was confused, but they ran the test anyway. It came back negative.
But the center said I was deferred for life, without a chance that I could ever donate anything again. All the plasma they had taken from me had to be destroyed. It was heartbreaking, and I’m still confused how they could defer someone permanently for something that wasn’t even in their own sample.