Voces del Prado

Playing tricks on the new staff

María Teresa González Escolar, General Services Assistant, 1990-2013

I also remember leaving time on my first day. I was with other colleagues in the huge central gallery and the bells rang. I already knew from Jesús that you couldn’t leave the room until you were relieved. It’s really mean the tricks they play on the new staff. “You can leave”, “No, I can’t leave until my relief arrives”, “Yes, go on”, “No, I’m staying”. They kept on insisting that I left but I knew that wasn’t allowed. So I said, “Ok, I’m off”. But I didn’t leave, I stayed there. And as I was watching to see if my relief arrived and to see what was going on, I saw my relief looking to see if I’d left, the rotter! Furthermore, the boss was there and he asked me what was going on. I was there, not knowing what to do, waiting for my relief. My goodness, that was when I realised the little traps they set for you. But it was all fine as I never actually left. But imagine if I’d left and the boss had arrived at that moment...
But there was a fantastic colleague who really behaved well with all the new staff. I mean, the way colleagues ought to behave. This was Isabel Cid, a marvellous person who helped you and took an interest in you. When she saw some mean trick was going to be played on a colleague she made sure it didn’t happen. She was really nice.