I think it goes something like, “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished“…?

Yea. So I like to do what I can to help people in need, so I signed up for the blood drive at work today. I’ve given blood multiple times, and I have no issue watching the needle go in, etc. There is usually a problem getting the vein. Finding it is easy, getting blood from it, not so much. Most times, they put the needle in, move it around a bunch, make a new puncture, and start over. This was the case today, although a bit better than usual. So here is where it was “fun”…

I took my camera. We all know I take it EVERYWHERE, so why not somewhere interesting, like a bus where they intentionally make you bleed? Exactly, no big deal, or so I thought.

The lady outside, that I signed papers with, didn’t say anything about me carrying it. I went into this little room (see below) for blood pressure, temperature, and red blood cell tests. The lady was super nice. She asked me not to take pictures of the paperwork, but said everything else was game, and even tried to turn/move things so I could take these pictures better. I thought, “Whoa, cool, she is supportive of my addiction!” Then I went out to the “beds” where you lay down to have your red goo taken.

The lady that is going to take it comes over and starts to do her thing. Then she says, “Why do you have a camera? You work for the news or ’sumthin’?”I explained that I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some pics, and I thought my wife would like them. So, she spent the next 20-30 minutes drilling me about why I had a camera with me. I guess I see her point, I mean, no one outside of the investigative media owns a “professional camera”, right? 

As she is finishing up, I see the building security guard walk in, but I don’t think much of it, as he starts talking to another donor that he is apparently friends with. The curiously accusing lady tells me that I need to sit at the end of the bus for 5 minutes, and get a drink and snack to make sure I’m not light headed. Then I realize she sent me to sit next to the security guard. Just after I sit next to where he’s standing, he turns to talk to me. Remember, this is at my work. We would have had a MUCH different dialogue if I weren’t worried about repercussions at my place of work. The conversation went like this:

Him: “Do you have pictures of anyone on this bus on the camera?”
Me: “No.”
Him: “Let me see.”
Against my beliefs, and not wanting to cause a scene at work, I show him the first few pics, then I say, ” They are all like that.”
Him: “Let me see all of them.”
Again, holding back an assortment of things I want to say and/or do, I politely show him. This is me being mature. If this were say, 7 years ago, I would have lost my cool. 
He says ok, and turns around to talk to someone.
About 30 seconds later (after talking to a girl you could tell he was trying to be cool for), he turns to me and says: “You can go now, step off the bus.”
OMG! I *almost* lost it. Instead I said, “No, I can’t, she told me to wait 5 minutes (while pointing to the rude lady).”
He kind of grunted, and a minute or two later I said I would now be happy to leave, and I did so…

I’m not trying to tout my big bad 30D, but you know if I had a little Canon P&S, there would not have been a second look. WTF? I’ll still donate blood, because I do it to help people, but I won’t take a (“pro-looking”) camera next time. Like I said, no good deed…..

- I should note that there were absolutely NO signs banning photography, and not only did not ask me to stop (or not enter w/ the camera), one lady told me it was fine and helped me take shots. -

This is the bus parked outside…

The finger prick. This was the nice lady…

This is the little room I spoke of…

My blood pressure was a little high to start with, but it went down by the time we did it second time. I also had a fever of 100.6 (who new?), which was 99.7 once we did it a second time…

And we’re off…..

I really do hope this helps someone…

This is what my blood looks like in a little bag. This is a VERY small portion of what they took…

Taking out the needle to clean me up…

And my nice blue wrap thing (taken w/ my cell)…