The Little Box or the Hospital?

The Little Box or the Hospital? / Rebeca Monzo
Posted on October 2, 2014

A friend, whose name I withhold in order not to harm him, tells me of a
neighbor "partner" of his who works in the Ministry of the Interior and
who became, what we call here a "super salary," who confessed to having
raised the following complaint at his work center:

"I earn 690 CUP (Cuban pesos), which here is considered a good salary.
Recently they passed by my office taking note of colleagues who were
interested in buying the decoding boxes for digital television; this
equipment, according to what they explained to us, has the purpose of
converting the digital signal into analog for those people who, like me
(the majority), cannot immediately replace the less modern televisions
that we own.

To my understanding, they are of two prices: they cost 30 and 38 CUC
(Cuban convertible pesos), depending on their functions. I, of course,
would opt for the more economical which, multiplying its price by 25
CUP, as they do in the stores, becomes 750 CUP and I earn 690 monthly,
therefore I would have to take 250 CUP from my salary for three months
until matching the price of said box, and make do however I can during
those 90 days, which means that during this period of time I will not be
able to buy milk, pork meat or vegetables and will even have to neglect
my grooming a little, besides which with the remaining 440 CUP I will
have to pay each month for gas, electricity, water, phone and some other
essential grooming article like soap, which would be impossible because
that would far surpass my meager budget.

"What to do then? Get used to not watching television when I arrive
home, tired after a long work day, because of not acquiring the little
box, or failing that, go after acquiring it, directly to a hospital?"

Translated by mlk.

30 September 2014

Source: The Little Box or the Hospital? / Rebeca Monzo | Translating
Cuba -
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