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This week has been crazy. Remember how they moved some of us to the predeterminations department a few weeks ago? Well, we’re all–I think all of us, anyway–getting shuffled back to doing claims again because inventory over there is just getting so high. Guess they couldn’t handle it without us, haha. So I’m back doing what I was doing before, but it’s going to be even better because rather than have us flipping and doing different books of business all the time, they’re having us focusing on one book of business, and the one I’m going to do was turning out to be my favorite book of business, anyway.

(I realize that almost nobody understood that. Recap: Moving back to the old stuff, but better old stuff. Whee.)

In other news, I got a tooth yanked out earlier this week. Oh, there is a lot more the dentist wants (er, needs) to do to my teeth, but we’ve already met my dental max. Better luck next year, bucko.

At any rate, because of that, my mouth has been a little sore. But, luckily, the dentist  prescribed me Vicodin. Score! I take some of that, and then I feel like this:

Okay, not really like that. I don’t feel like dancing on Vicodin–just feel REALLY mellow. It’s a little weird at work. By the way, if Jim were a robot, he would totally be one of those dancing Claptrap ones from Borderlands.

Okay, I’m off to watch Angel. Or read A Game of Thrones. Or crochet. Or play Warcraft. Obviously, I haven’t decided yet.

Can a person get promoted twice in less than six months? Apparently. Today, a small group consisting of myself and maybe five or so other people, including the girl that sits in front of me, were told that the predeterminations department needed help, and they decided that we were the ones who could do it. The woman who told us is one of the supervisors. Actually, she was the same woman from whom I got the news that I was getting promoted to the written department.

She got a completely different response this time, though. We’re all in writtens. We love it. Leaving it makes us nervous. We had heard that predeterminations have to produce way more. She assured us that most of the people who are in preds love it, and after they’re in the unit, they ask that they never get moved out.

None of us are sure why we were chosen. I assume because of how much pred people have to produce, they’re looking for people they think are capable of that. The girl that sits in front of me noted that all the people who were chosen are very detail-oriented.  But the sup and the tech didn’t say anything beyond they had decided that we were the ones who were capable of helping the pred department the best.

I don’t know. I’m nervous because I really like the job I have now, and I can’t imagine liking another job better than this. On the other hand, I’ve heard that preds are pretty repetitive, so you actually get to know the stuff and get in a nice little groove (I’m  a sucker for my grooves), and hey–they get put on phones even less than we do in the written unit. So that’s a plus.

I guess we’ll find out. Training starts Monday.

Normally, I don’t talk about work on my blog, for various reasons, but mostly because, well…work’s boring.  Most people’s jobs are, and while there are more exciting jobs out there than mine, most don’t pay as well.  At least, not in this area.  Especially after my most recent raise.

No, I’m not rich by ANY means, but it’s good money for southern Illinois.  If I didn’t have a huge-ass car bill (and the expensive car insurance that comes with it), we’d probably be doing nicely for ourselves.  Oh, well.

But whatever.  It pays the bills, and that’s pretty much where I leave it.  It’s a job.  I work at a call center, taking calls from doctors and hospitals, quoting medical benefits and handling claims.  I try to make the best of it.  There are definitely worse jobs.  The pay’s decent, the benefits are good, and in a time where the economy kind of sucks, I actually have access to overtime.  And the majority of the people I talk to on a daily basis–as in 99%–are actually pleasant to deal with.  And I seem to be good at it.  My stats have improved dramatically since I started, and I’ve been told my both supervisors that I’ve had that I’m very good on the phone.  In fact, I once got a random e-mail from a higher-up who happened to listen to one of my calls who told me that she was very pleased with my service and was glad to know that I was representing the company.

(I kept that e-mail for a long time, heh.)

But none of this changes one problem:  I hate talking on the phone.  Even in my personal life, I hate telephones.  Yes, I can do it.  I would prefer not to.  So no matter how much I tell myself, hey, at least the people are nice, I still dread going to work.  Really, there are many days where I would prefer not to talk, period.  I’m kind of known in my unit for being “the quiet one.”

So, today, I was pulled off the phones (something I always love) to work on claims when I got an IM from a supervisor I wasn’t familiar with, asking me to meet her in one of the conference rooms.  I went.  At first I thought I was in trouble, until the woman who met me there told me that my day was about to get really good.  We had to wait for others to join us.  That was another sign that I knew I wasn’t in trouble.  Once everyone got in the room, we were told that we had been selected for the new positions opening up in the written unit.

Which means…no more phones.

I guess unless you work there, you have no idea how coveted these positions are.  Well, there are some people who don’t want them.  Some like the phone.  Some don’t really like the phone but are bored with the idea of working on claims all day.  For many of us, though, the written unit was the goal.  When we found out that we were getting promoted to the written area, a couple of the girls actually got teary, they were so happy.

Let me tell you some things about the written unit.  Some people in that unit get flex time.  There are no schedules you have to adhere to.  We were told that if you decide to take an hour off for lunch, you just let them know afterwards and make up the time later.  Just make sure you have 40 hours at the end of the week.

To give you an indication how different this is from being on the phones:  Once, I was going by my computer clock rather than my phone clock and accidentally logged into my phone 1 minute late–and I got an email from my supervisor warning me to watch when I log in.  So you see how much more laidback the written unit is compared to the phone unit.

They’re also going to be piloting a WORK FROM HOME program with some of the written staff.  No, we won’t be a part of that because we’re new and all.  Still, it’s something that could actually be an option in the future.

AND.  And.  Overtime.  Right now, we’ve had limited overtime, where only certain people can get it.  Apparently, in these times, written people are automatically approved.

Of course, there will be a downside.  One will be the new anxiety with trying to do well in a new role.  Another will be that while I do overtime now, there are some times I don’t do as much because…well, phone units really aren’t pushed so much.  For the written area, while it’s not technically required (at least, not right now), they definitely made it clear that they expect that we will do overtime.  I guess it’s not a big deal because I do it already, but you know how it is when you choose to do something over someone actually telling you that you have to.

But.  Anyway.  Sorry to bore everyone, but I’m super-excited.  I’ve had my eye on one of these positions since I started at my job nearly two years ago.  Finally, I won’t feel anxious about going to work anymore!  And while I’m (of course!) going to enjoy my weekend like I do every weekend, for once in my life, I’m actually looking forward to Monday.

For once, I’m not posting before work.  It’s 9:30 at night, and it’s a rare night here in our apartment.

It’s quiet.

One of the things I love about Jim is that he’s opposite of me in ways in which I prefer him to be opposite of me.  As a general rule of thumb, I’m the quiet one, he’s the loud one.  So, as you can imagine, in our apartment, there’s usually a lot of noise between him, the TV, and me teasing Jim mercilessly.  But tonight?  Tonight, we cooked, ate, cleaned a little, then curled up on the couch together, just reading, me Dexter and him some sci-fi book he picked up at the library’s book sale last weekend.

By the way, when I was quietly reading, actually managing to bring myself to go through a couple chapters, I suddenly thought, “Huh, reading…I remember doing this before.”

Not a good sign, also an indicator of how I little I read these days.  I’ve been reading Amy Tan’s Saving Fish from Drowning during lunch, but only a couple pages at a time because, well, I just don’t have time.  So it was nice to sit down for a good chunk of time and actually knock out a couple of chapters of Dexter.

So, tomorrow’s Friday, concluding an interesting week at work.  For one, they announced today those who got the written positions.  Yours truly didn’t get one, but hell, I didn’t really expect to (most people in that unit have been there forever), and I was surprised that I actually managed to get as far as an interview.  Most people I know didn’t get even that far, so the way I see it?  I’ll definitely have a shot at the next go around.

The cool thing, though, is that between all the competition for those coveted five positions between our office and Springfield, someone in our own unit got a spot, a girl I used to sit next to up until a couple months ago.  So that’s really cool…although I think everyone’s going to miss her when she goes.  She really livens up the unit.

The other cool thing at work:  Another co-worker–this time, a girl who sits across from me–came in all happy.  The reason?  Her boyfriend had proposed to her that morning.  The funny thing is that I had been talking about mine and Jim’s own engagement to her the week or so before, and she had told me that she was waiting for her boyfriend, pointing at her wrist, saying Let’s move it already.  So we were all happy that he “moved it” (heh), admired her ring, and it was suggested we have a potluck soon to celebrate all the September birthdays, as well as her and my engagements.  My guess is we’ll include celebrating our co-worker’s getting promoted to a written unit as well.

Enough work talk.  This weekend is a three-day weekend!  Even better:  Jim actually got Monday off, too!  Just gotta haul our butts through tomorrow.