If I may rant about the inconvenient hours the National Capital Area Red Cross sets aside for accepting blood donations. It's kind of difficult to donate if you work late and the hours set aside for giving are 8am to 2pm or 2pm to 7pm on weekdays at the downtown center. I asked one of the nurses once why they couldn't shift the schedule to be friendlier to working people and got an answer so obtuse it could have come from an airline CSR: "well, we need to go home some time too, you know."
I can donate on Saturday out in the suburbs, said the phone rep once. And if I don't have a car? "There
might be taxis around" (emphasis mine). In other words, during weekdays when nobody can donate, they run a shuttle bus to go 5 blocks between the nearest Metro station to the downtown center. On weekends when employed people can give, they offer no way to get to the Fairfax donation center, a good 2.5 miles away from the near Metro (Vienna/Fairfax).
And they waste so much money sending me "thank-you" cards and "Type O hero" certificates and various tchotchkes even though I've requested on several occasions that they not do so. I don't give only 3 times a year because I don't get enough T-shirts, people. I could double that if you were just a weentsy bit more flexible, just staying open till 8pm one weeknight. But since my comment cards seem to be unacknowledged, maybe I really am the only one? Well, I guess it's not my problem. End rant.
