I have been focused on little else besides my websites, job, and peace of mind the past couple months. My romantic life was getting a bit unruly, so I had to put it on the back burner. The only person I’ve spent a significant amount of time with outside of lately is . We’ve both been enjoying time away from the rest of the world. She’s been helping me stay grounded. She has bipolar disorder as well. We’ve had several together over the years. Both of us have learned a lot about our illness and we try to support each other. I my Tori. She’s the one person who completely gets me and loves me no matter what happens.

The decision to focus on my job worked out. Around the end of June, I was chosen to take the Expert Technical Support Representative exam and I aced it. I earned the TSR 3 title and a $1.02 per hour raise. We had a center-wide shift bid shortly thereafter and I got one of my top picks which was Sunday-Wednesday 11-10pm.

About a week and a half ago, Kurt, my former supervisor approached me with an offer to switch to another department. That department, the Welcome Center, was created about four months ago, and I was approached then to join the team. I declined because I liked my shift and the team I was on and the available shifts for the Welcome Center sucked ass in my .

Justin, the teammate I connected with the most, had joined the Welcome Center when we had the center-wide shift bid. I didn’t bid for the Welcome Center shifts because it was still a relatively new department and the people that I knew in it didn’t particularly like it.

When Kurt first broached the subject, I was a little reluctant to make the change because it would involve losing the shift I earned and changing teams again. He told me that I would get to keep my TSR 3 raise and he would be my supervisor if I accepted. He also told me that since the shift sucks so much I would be eligible for a double bonus. The way Pay for Performance (the bonus program) works is agents can get up to 40% of their monthly gross pay if they cap out on the metrics, so I could get up to an 80% bonus per month if I made the switch. That boils down to a possible $1760 per month bonus, not including any overtime I may work during that period. However, he said they are working on changing it from the extra bonus to a department differential of $2-3 an hour. From the financial standpoint alone I would have been foolish to turn down the offer again.

Nevertheless, isn’t everything to me, and I was still somewhat reluctant to accept the promotion. Kurt gave me a few days to think it over. I talked with people (including Justin) who had made the transition and they told me most of the kinks had been worked out and they were happy with their positions. I decided to accept the offer.

I had Welcome Center training last Friday. The trainers kept telling us we were the elite and that is why we were hand-picked for the Welcome Center. Saturday was my first day in my new position. My new schedule is Wednesday-Sunday noon-8:30. It really sucks balls, but I keep reminding myself the shift isn’t permanent.

So far I like the position. We mostly handle new customers and we are given a lot of latitude to resolve any issues they have. I’m very customer service oriented and now I have even more tools to take care of the customers I handle. I love my job. Dish Network is an awesome company to work for, unlike their arch nemesis (and mine for that matter), – I still think they are evil bastards. It is nice to be judged for my performance instead of my bipolar status. I’ve only been with Dish Network for 11 months and I’m already making $2.52 per hour more (not including the big fat bonuses) than I was after 2 years with (aka the Sith). Now, I’m thankful the dark side canned me. I’m thriving with Dish Network. Nevertheless, I am still pursuing my complaint against with the .

On this day..