Teen snaps at teacher pressuring her to give blood, 'I am anemic, and I'll report you.' AITA?
Everyone has a snapping point, especially when they're not being listened to.
In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a teen asked if she was wrong for leaving class after her teacher wouldn't stop pressuring her to give blood. She wrote:
"AITA for leaving class after my teacher wouldn't drop a topic I had asked her to drop?"
My (16F) school has two blood drives each year. Only those 16 and up can give blood. The day before the drive, students go class to class to ask who wants to participate that can. They came into my class and asked. All but three students raised their hands, Me and two others. The teacher, who is big on giving to those in need starting asking us why we didn't raise out hands.
When she asked me, I told her that I wasn't allowed to and physically couldn't as i am anemic. My doctor told me not to give blood outside of a hospital. She said that wasn't a valid reason and i spent over ten minutes trying to explain why I couldn't but it was like she just couldn't understand. Other students had also tried to explain but she wasn't having it.
I started to get frustrated and I asked if she would please just leave it alone and that I just wasn't going to give blood because I didn't want to end up getting more upset and accidentally raising my voice or saying something that would get me in trouble. She said "not until you give me a reason why."
I gathered my things and told her that if this bothered her so much problems to contact my dad and talk to him. I also told her that i was going to the office to file a complaint because getting mad at me for something like this was extremely unprofessional on her part and i wasn't going to deal with this.
I texted my friends about it and one of them said that I should have just shut up and dealt with it, that my response was rude and disrespectful. Another friend agreed with her and now mu friend group is split. My mom also said i was out of line and that i should have waiting until lunch to report it. My dad says he agrees with me and will have a conversation with the school about it.
I feel a little bad though, was my reaction really that disrespectful? I didn't mean for it to be. AITA?
The internet had a lot to say.
Mizu005 wrote:
NTA, your teacher was told you had a literal medical condition that disqualified you from giving blood and she still tried to guilt you into doing it. They deserve to be reported for trying to make you do something that is detrimental to your health even after you explained that it was medically inadvisable for you to give blood.
And honestly, even if you didn't have a condition and just weren't comfortable doing so, she still wouldn't have any d*mn business trying to pressure you into doing it if you said you didn't want to.
Putrid-Tune2333 wrote:
Geez. There are all kinds of reasons why people can't donate blood. Anemia is the least of it. She was basically asking you to reveal your private medical information in front of your class. What if you had been born with or contracted a contagious, life-long bloodborne infection? Reporting this is the right thing to do. NTA.
Van_Schwank wrote:
NTA. Congratulations on having a spine and your dad sounds like the voice of reason in the family. I'd be livid if someone treated my child like that and insisted her medical advice was better than a doctor's. I'd be having a talk with the teacher personally, preferably recorded.
ElmLane62 wrote:
NTA. There is NOT A CHANCE that you were wrong here. Your teacher does not have the right to insist that you give blood and doesn't have the right to insist that she knows best about your medical condition. File that complaint.
OP is the farthest from an AH here, if anything, her teacher needs to be reported.