The Incredible Shrinking Math Skills
The last few times I've donated blood I've noticed that the interviewer always asks for my height, which I normally give in feet and inches, and he or she pauses for a moment to mentally convert that data into inches for input to the blood bank's computer system. I decided that I would save them the trouble of that small mental calculation, so as I sat down for the interview yesterday, the question was delivered and I confidently replied, "71 inches." The interviewer didn't miss a beat in the input process and we moved on to the more serious questions, like whether I'd ever played Twister with farm animals*.
It wasn't until a few questions down the line that I realized that my answer, however helpful in its phrasing, was, well, wrong. I'd shorted myself a couple of inches [insert your own joke here], as the correct answer was 73**. But by then, I didn't want to try to correct the mistake, fearing that I'd be accused of throwing up a smokescreen to avoid revealing whether I'd ever had illicit relationships with gelatin-based desserts***.
In hindsight, I probably should have chosen accuracy over efficiency, although I'm not sure what my height has to do with my ability to squirt a pint of blood into a plastic bag.
*The answer is "no."
**The correct answer used to be "74," but after a couple of years of grousing about the apparent inability of various nurses to correctly lower that measuring bar onto the top of my head, I grudgingly came to the conclusion that I'm no longer immune to the force of gravity.
***The answer is "no." As far as I know.
Rob, I blame my mental lapse on ALDTLOB (Anticipatory Lightheadedness Due To Lack Of Blood). It's a common malady. Well, in my life, anyway.
My wife and I have been pretty regular donors throughout our adult lives, although there were a few years where I stopped donating following some ill effects. I finally decided they were just coincidental and resumed the donations a year or so ago. They haven't reoccurred.
Posted by: Eric at June 11, 2008 09:13 AMYour height is related to your weight...they like to decide whether you are too skinny or too fat (BMI-wise) to donate. I'm sure you already knew that though.
Posted by: Lynellen at June 11, 2008 04:07 PMWell, actually, I didn't. I mean, I know there's a minimum weight requirement, but according to the American Red Cross, there's no upper limit on weight (other than that imposed by the structural strength of the donation bed or couch). There's no mention of BMI on the Red Cross's website.
Posted by: Eric at June 11, 2008 04:35 PMAbout the publisher
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Way to go, Eric!
Always great to hear about people donating blood. It's a great charitable gesture for your community! Not only that, it also offers some benefits for the donor too.
It won't, however, remedy your dwindling math skills problem...
Posted by: Rob O. at June 10, 2008 09:29 PM