@Ledboots I just had a phlebotomist who missed my vein and was getting ready to go stick me again. I was nonplussed. I asked her would you like a consultation with another phlebotomist? Possibly we could have someone else try and find a vein? I'm not happy with people who aren't good at their job of poking holes in me. I seem to have offended her but I really don't care because it's my body. Have you ever witnessed this?
most (outpt) places have rules about how many sticks each phlebotomist gets, usually 2, but also a good phlebotomist will usually know what went wrong the first time and the likelihood it'll happen again. even the best of us miss sometimes.
I was also never a dick about someone asking for someone else to try if I'd missed, or handing it off to someone else myself if I felt like round 2 from me would end similarly.
but, some phlebotomists have a really fragile ego and inflated sense of self, so they'd have a shit fit if a pt tried to guide them in any way (asking for butterfly, saying where they usually get stuck, etc). the way i sways viewed it is, yeah, I successfully stick a lot of people, but I haven't necessarily successfully stuck YOU a lot, so as long as I am able to comply with your request, I'm gonna, and if I can't, I'll let you know I can't and why and give you the option of either letting me try what I'm comfortable with after explicitly stating what that is, or having someone else look
e.g. "I don't feel a vein there and I don't want to stick you there just to say I tried, but I do feel a good one over here, would it be ok with you if I gave that a try? or I can have Becky take a peek at your preferred spot and see if she can feel something I'm missing?"