Voces del Prado

Things Change

Francisco Manso Guerrero, Gallery attendant and Clerical Support, 1966-1991

I think people were closer, more united before. Anyone would come and say, “look, can you have a look at this tomorrow to see if you can fix it”. Later on, everything changed. I remember that once, I went down to the hall at the end, the round one downstairs, and the schoolchildren had thrown paper and things down there. And I told the hall supervisor, “look, they’ve thrown paper on the floor and it’s a mess”. And she replied, “that’s not my problem; that’s what the cleaning ladies are for”. Before, we only worked four hours, but then they introduced full-time hours and new people began to join. Before that, nearly everyone was related to someone else. Later on, they staged State-run exams for the positions because people were needed, and students began to join, which I think is fine. But, of course, there was no longer the same familiarity amongst us.