Voces del Prado

The Special Unit of Subordinates

María Merino Cabrera, Clerical Support, 1977-2004

The first day I came to the Museum they asked me if I wanted to work at the Director's office. I agreed to do so and have been there until the day I retired.
At the Special Unit of Subordinates it was my job to receive the visitors who came to meet with the Director. The offices were divided into two areas: one for the director and deputy director and the other part consisted of the library and the place where the curators gathered together. There was also a small changing room. Once we had on our uniform, we assisted the visitors or the director, deputy director or whoever needed us.
There were many different kinds of visitors. Personal friends, mainly of the director or deputy director, people from the Ministry or people who brought a painting to be authenticated. Sometimes people showed up with a fan and a Goya sticker and they thought they had the real thing! I also sorted out the correspondence and assisted in anything I was asked to do.
The trade union protests by workers at the Museum barely affected us. Individually it did because some of our friends participated but for us who worked at the Director's office it was a distant affair. We really did not have to deal with those issues. We never went on strike. We had the right to go on strike or not to but we never did, at least not the workers at the Director's office.