That sounds nothing like my experiences while donating blood. It's strange to read.
You don't get paid for donating here, and the way it works is that the blood services do traveling clinics, for lack of a better term. Blood techs get picked up in a van, and drive to different towns where clinics have been arranged. Ours are usually at a hockey arena, sometimes at a local church when that's not available. They come here once a month.
These clinics are usually pretty relaxed. You walk in, talk to the people at a table with a computer in front of them and they sign you in and book your next appointment if you agree. Then you go to a tablet, fill out a questionnaire (which can be done at home) about how you're feeling, and then wait to talk to a nurse who takes your blood pressure and texts your iron level. This is usually done in kiosks that are temporarily walled by those big folding mats from gym class. Then, you go wait in one of the usually many available chairs until they call you to go lay down on one of their reclining chairs and do the donation.
They make you read a pamphlet, which I just fake read now since I've seen and read it so many times. Everyone is happy, there's no real pressure (sure, they'll call if you don't have an appointment booked and it's been a bit, because they're always in need but that's not annoying) and there's nothing in the way of fingerprint kiosks, big brochures, logos, etc.
Canadian Blood Services does have permanent clinic locations, but they sometimes have weird hours and are generally not all that busy when I've gone in. They're quaint, clean, and bright. At least the one I went to was.
I'd donate more, but they only allow you to every two months for personal health reasons. I've also been turned away before, because of low iron and hard-to-find veins that require me to drink a ton of water beforehand. Last time the first lady who tried to do the donation couldn't find my vein, even though I'd drank around 12 bottles of water. She didn't believe me when I told her and was rude to me, then got asked to take a break by her supervisor and someone I had dealt with before did it.
Edit: I forgot plasma is different, but don't Americans also get paid for donating blood sometimes? It's illegal to pay donors for either here.
