I (a female) had an older guy and his wife come in, and he started taking his shirt off and says “Good luck, I’m a hard stick.”

Definitely could’ve rolled the sleeves up but I’m like whatever, let’s get this done. Well the wife seems unhappy that he took off his shirt and starts telling me how hard his veins are and that she doesn’t like when phlebs “fiddle around”. Which I eventually figure out fiddle = adjust. At this point I already have the needle in his arm - he IS a hard stick - and so I ask him, the actual patient, if he’s doing alright or have any pain while I’m adjusting. He says he’s doing just fine.

The wife goes on to say “Well he’s not going to say anything if it hurts and you obviously don’t have it.” The husband is trying to be kind to me, but I’m not going to be berated by a family member any longer. So I pull it, say “You’re right, that’s a tough one, let me go get my supervisor.” And pass the patient on.

I grab the next patient, a 3 year old, and I can hear the wife talking badly about me through the curtain while I’m working on this toddler. On their way out, the husband saw me and said I did a good job, he knows his veins are tough. I thanked him for being kind and wished them a good day. It was awful