# Giving blood for free, being taken advantage of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 26, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood-for-free-being-taken-advantage-of/203916 "2003-09-26T05:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Zahn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@John\_Zahn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Zahn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood-for-free-being-taken-advantage-of/203916/21 "2003-09-27T15:33:06Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by jshore_ > Mind you, there are certain aspects of the Red Cross blood donation process that I find annoying. (I am currently not giving on doctor’s orders because I ended up quite anemic after giving about 4 times a year for the last few years.,.And to get them to stop calling me was a challenge!) It was a challenge for me too. I knew when I could donate blood next, but they would always remind me with a telephone call if I hadn’t come in when they would have liked. They became very aggresive with their phone drives, also letting me know when their was a shortage or another crisis on hand and for me to donate as soon as possible. Sometimes they would ask me why I haven’t donated. When I finally got an unlisted phone number, which was due to an alarming amount of other telemarketers, they then starting calling me at my work place and reminding me. I finally told them I was going to stop donating blood altogether if they didn’t stop calling me so damn often. JZ ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood-for-free-being-taken-advantage-of/203916/22 "2003-09-28T02:51:22Z")
Every time I donate I get a free t-shirt, and last time I also got a coupon for a free pint of Baskin Robbins. It’s not ten dollars cash, but it’s good enough for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood-for-free-being-taken-advantage-of/203916.md?page=1)