Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator..If she's from the park or Society Hill hide the cheese in the cabinet above the oven, way up where she'll never see.
-- Yunior (N/A paragraph 2)

Importance: One of the first things that Yunior does to prepare for his date is to remove the government-issued cheese from the refrigerator, as it is evidence that Yunior's family is impoverished and on welfare. Yunior appears to be ashamed of this fact, as he attempts to obscure it from his date.

Take down any embarrassing photos of your family in the campo, especially the one with half-naked kids dragging a goat on a rope leash. The kids are your cousins and by now they’re old enough to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing.
-- Yunior (N/A paragraph 2)

Importance: Before his date arrives, Yunior hides all photos of his family's former life living in a small, impoverished village in the Dominican Republic...