Jean Ricks has been with GUC for almost four years and is part of Customer Relation’s Revenue Protection Section. She helps with final bill pay arrangements, customer bad debt management, investigation of illegal utility usage and meter tampering, and the Priority Customer Program for customers on life support equipment in their homes. Jean also occasionally jumps in to assist our Customer Service Representatives when needed. Jean came to GUC with 23 years of customer service experience, including call center management. Most of her professional career prior to GUC was spent at BB&T as a Payroll Manager for the Payroll Call Center.   

FUN FACT! In the 1990s, Jean was a Staff Reporter and Lifestyles Editor for The Sampson Independent in Clinton, NC, and really enjoyed her time as a writer/editor. 

What are your top three favorite things about your job? I enjoy the element of surprise with this job - like that line in Forrest Gump, “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” I also get to meet interesting people who really touch my heart, and it makes me feel good about the job we’re doing. And my third favorite is teamwork. We come together and do what needs to be done, no matter the situation.  

What did you want to be when you were younger? I wanted to be an FBI or SBI Investigator. 

What motivates you to work hard? I grew up being taught that you work hard because it’s expected of you, and I’ve tried instilling that in my children as well.  

What is your proudest career accomplishment? My proudest professional accomplishment was managing the payroll for 3,200 employees in 13 different states as a Payroll Manager at BB&T. It was a challenge I’m proud to say that I enjoyed and did well. 

What was your very first job? I was a McDonald’s Cashier, and we had to get our customers in and out, with the correct order, all in one minute. 

What advice do you offer to those who are new to the utility industry?  Learn all that you can about your own position and then seek out and learn what others do here. Soon after I started working at GUC, our former department director, George Reel, suggested I try helping customers from the Credit Section. One day I jumped in to help our Credit team and have been helping them on occasion ever since. If I had I let my fear take over and not given it a try, I wouldn’t have known I could do it.  

What would you like us to know about your family? My husband, Robert, and I have been married 38 years and I just love him to pieces. He works for PNC Bank. We have three kids. Monica is a Pharmacist at ECU. Robert works for Cree, Inc. in Raleigh. And our baby, Brianna, just graduated from college and landed a job at McLane in Battleboro. We also have three grandkids ranging from three to five years old (Isaiah, Trey, and Kayleigh). We are all members of the church in Tarboro my husband grew up in. We moved around a lot for his career growth during the first half of our marriage, so it’s special to us that we are settled back down in our hometown and that our grandchildren get to grow up in his childhood church.  

If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have? I would want the ability to see the future AND make changes to what I don’t like. 

What celebrity would you like to meet? When my daughter was six or seven, she wanted to invite Patti LaBelle over for Thanksgiving. If I could meet Patti, I’d invite her over for Thanksgiving dinner. 

What do you want to accomplish this year either personally or in your career? I want to become more deeply rooted in my faith. I’m currently on a hiatus from Facebook so that I can devote that time to being more grounded. 

What’s your favorite thing to do when you are not at work? Watching Cops and taking long drives with my husband.