‘I like helping people’
Gwen McArthur was a high school senior when she first started working part time for Ellijay Telephone Company (ETC) in 1972. She graduated from Gilmer High School on a Friday night and, by the following Monday, was working full time for the phone company.
“I was 16. I wouldn’t have my 17th birthday till June 29,” said McArthur.
The job placement by a vocational education program at the high school (which offered students part-time employment at local businesses) turned out to be a good match. McArthur, now the manager of ETC’s customer service department, celebrated her 50-year anniversary with the company earlier this month.
“I came from high school, and met Mr. Harrison and was hired. It worked out wonderful for me. I feel very blessed and thankful to have had the opportunity to work locally and make a career here,” McArthur said. “The Harrison family has been super good to me through all these many years, and I feel really blessed.”
There have been constant changes and evolution in the telecommunications industry throughout her time at ETC. The biggest transition for the company has been the gradual decline in demand for landline phones (at one time the main service it provided) and the growing demand for internet and cell service.
“With mobile phones, most people don’t need a home telephone now, so we’ve primarily become an internet company and secondarily a cable TV company,” McArthur said. “With cable TV, we have to depend on the networks, but, with internet, we can control that more. It’s really become our main product.”
McArthur attributed the longevity of ETC in an ever- changing market to its management always having eyes on the future. The recent expansion to build a fiberoptic network for internet is an example, she said.
“Our theme is Your Connection to the World, and ETC management has always put the profits back into the company. They’ve always been very aware of the coming changes and what was going to happen because they stayed on top of the industry. Even though we’re a small company, we’ve been out there paying attention,” McArthur said. “Another thing they’ve done is applying for grant funding that’s helping us build the internet out to our more rural customers. We’ve been trying real hard to provide faster internet everywhere in the county.”
When the company first started offering internet service, ETC was still primarily a home telephone company. In the ‘90s, the phone line became an outlet to a broader world of information made accessible by a dial-up modem with its bleeps, dings and other connection noises. McArthur said it’s amazing how much the technology and the way it’s provided to customers has changed over the years.
“It’s so different now,” she added. “(Back then), if you were on the telephone, you couldn’t use the internet at the same time because it used the same line. Now, we’re providing gig speeds to some places.”
The reach of the company has also expanded over time. Today, McArthur manages a customer service team that includes more than 20 employees in Gilmer, Pickens and Fannin County. ETC also has customers in areas of Daswon County, Cherokee County and Polk County, Tenn., she said.
“When I first started working here, we only had the Ellijay office,” McArthur said. “Now we have a Jasper office and a Blue Ridge office.”
Whether it’s attending to service order calls, taking payments or dealing with a service outage, McArthur said, after 50 years, she still enjoys helping customers.
“I like helping people solve their problems. If I can be honest with them, explain it to them and have them leave satisfied, that feels like an accomplishment to me,” she said. “Even if it’s not what they want to hear, I want them to know I was sincere and fair and that I really care.”
The company not only has its eyes on the future when it comes to new technology, but also customer service, McArthur noted.
“We’re really proud of our customer service team, and we’re always trying to serve our customers better. We’re serious about wanting to have happy customers,” she added. “We depend heavily on our mapping system, which we can use to pull up a map and see what kinds of services are at a location. We’re working on a program right now (with which) we’re hoping to be able to notify customers when there’s going to be an outage.”
McArthur knew that ETC was going to throw her a celebration earlier this month in honor of her 50th anniversary, but she didn’t know the event would include a special surprise.
At the reception, McArthur, who was officially crowned “Queen of ETC,” found out she’s on the front cover and inside jacket of the new phone book, which features an array of photos from her time with the company. The phone book, of which there’s been 50,000 copies printed, was unveiled at the reception.
“That was a really big surprise. I was very happy about it,” McArthur said. “The people from Walton Press, who print the telephone directories, were there to present me with a copy of the new phone book. Everybody went above and beyond to make this special and a wonderful surprise for me.”
McArthur said she is not planning to retire from ETC just yet.
“I don’t know when I’m going to retire. I’m still enjoying what I do,” she said.