A Cuban resident in Europe discovered that a 1 Cuban peso coin worked perfectly to unlock the shopping cart at the supermarket, and she shared it on TikTok with humor and irony.
Dunia, a TikTok user with the profile @ducato532, posted a 37-second video in which she recounts that upon arriving at the supermarket to do her shopping, she did not have a euro coin available to release the shopping cart.
Upon reviewing what he had with him, he found a Cuban peso and inserted it into the locking mechanism. To his surprise, it fit perfectly. The 1 peso Cuban coin, made of brass-plated steel, has dimensions very similar to some European coins, which explains its compatibility with the system.
In the video, Dunia exclaims ironically: "And then we say this is useless, that it doesn't work in any country. Look, look, this precious treasure I have here. I come to do shopping and can't find the coin to get the cart. And look, with this, it’s 1. And then we say the Cuban peso is worthless, and this has saved me; I didn’t have a cart to do the shopping. All we have is oxygen, look, even for shopping here it is useful to me."
The video connects with a well-known reality for Cubans: with 5,000 pesos, you can hardly buy basic products in Cuba, which makes the Cuban peso a currency with very low purchasing power on the island.
It’s not the first time that Cubans abroad have created viral moments that blend nostalgia and humor. Recently, a Cuban father and daughter went viral with a video dancing reparto, proving that Cuban culture travels with its protagonists wherever they go.
Dunia's discovery comes at a time when several European countries are gradually eliminating the coin system in shopping carts, replacing it with tokens or digital systems, which would render this clever trick impossible in the future.
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