Full Text of the Excerpt

WILLIAM MANSFIELD:

It does seem like the folks I have met in the tobacco— in the warehouse, its seems just like a picture [prefect] example of the "old boys" network.

JANE SQUIRES:

Exactly right.

WILLIAM MANSFIELD:

Coming into it as a woman, what kind of challenges were you confronted with?

JANE SQUIRES:

I trained for a year, with no pay. I felt like it was something that I needed to do. I wasn't comfortable enough with the mechanics of the sale. The chant was never a real problem for me. The sale mechanics I wanted to make sure that I had them down pat, before I accepted a job. I had had job offers before I decided I was ready to take one. Earlier, when Mr. Yergin mentioned there were black auctioneers in Zimbabwe and Malawi too I had never thought about how I would be compared with a minority, but that's exactly, I'm sure, very similar to how it [is]. Because the prejudice. Because there were many, many, many obstacles I had to over come. Not so much with the warehousemen. [The warehousemen] were almost ready for a change of pace. It was never a problem getting a job. I ran into a lot of conflicts with other auctioneers, that I never wanted to happen of course, but you've heard what a competitive business it is. I had to be better than the average young man starting out, for anybody to take me seriously. And to this day, everyday that I sell tobacco, now, I still feel that I have to prove myself. But it's fine. I like that adrenaline.