My experience with them as well is very unflexible.
The last time I attempted to donate blood, I was deferred.
@thackney @PeteS in CA At the ripe age of 20, I cleaned myself up, stopped drinking and drugging, and began my recovery to become a responsible productive member of society. After being clean and sober for about a year, I decided to start giving back by donating blood. A big part of my spiritual recovery involved rigorous honesty, so I was truthful on their little questionnaire.
My reward for this effort was to be permanently blacklisted from ever donating blood again. Twenty years later, we incurred a blood shortage. The Red Cross was asking for donors, so I went back and tried to donate again, figuring that if I was still alive with 20 years of sobriety, that my blood was OK. This time, they didn't give me the usual questionnaire, but instead had me list as much personal information about me as possible such as address, phone number, DL number, SSN, etc. I found out later that the reason for this was to update their ban list.
The Red Cross now occupies a permanent place on my sh!t list. I simply cannot deal with unreasonable folks. Meanwhile, I can go to the plasma bank in the 'hood and get paid for my plasma, no questions asked.
No good deed goes unpunished.