World News: The Daily Money: Call center workers quitting due to customer abuse

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Monday, April 4

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Good morning and happy Monday, Daily Money readers. Jayme Deerwester back with you. Rowed in an 8+ for the first time this weekend and managed not to hit the guy in front of me in the kidneys with my giant sweep oar so I'm calling it a win. On to today's news ...

🗞 People are the worst 🗞

This past weekend, which saw 12,000 flight delays and cancellations, illustrated the challenges of working in customer service call centers.

"It's completely draining,'' says Timmia McIlwaine, 41, who deals with hostile customers all day in nearly back-to-back calls as she rebooks flights and helps them navigate COVID travel requirements. "I've been called racial slurs … We have passengers who will pass the phone to someone else near them who's very angry and the cussing session continues.''

McIlwaine is one of roughly 3 million customer service agents in the U.S., more than 8 in 10 of whom say they've dealt with verbally abusive customers, according to a report from ASAPP , a company that develops artificial intelligence technologies to support service representatives. Roughly 1.2 million customer service agents, who resolve problems ranging from billing errors to rejected insurance claims, leave those positions every year. Abusive customers are a key reason why, the report found.

"People are leaving to make a little bit more money, or occasionally the same money, but with less stress,'' says Michael Lawder, ASAPP's chief experience officer, who has run call centers, and been a service representative for companies like Samsung and Apple.

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💡 Daily insight: Inflation and retirees 💡

Inflation is ravaging some of the asset classes that are cornerstones for seniors, ones that provide the backbone of their income in retirement. Today, we're looking at three troubled ones:

•	Major bond funds, known for relatively mild price swings, have been taking a beating.
•	Those receiving annuities who bet that low inflation rates would last forever may regret the decision.
•	While government workers commonly have cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) built in, most private-sector workers don't. And there's no guarantee that COLA increases will keep pace with inflation.

💵 Taxes for the self-employed 💵

From a tax perspective, it is much simpler to be a salaried worker than to be self-employed. As a salaried worker, your employer files a W-2 form on your behalf, reporting your earnings, tax withholdings and pretax contributions. But when you're self employed, that's all on you.

It's even more complicated for Americans who were a combination of the two last year.

But Lisa Green-Lewis, a CPA and tax expert with TurboTax, says it's manageable.

Essentially, you'll be filing a longer tax return for 2021 that covers your income as a W-2 worker and self-employed worker, as well as any other income you earned. Get the information you need to file, including your new tax rate and which deductions you might be able to claim.

🎧 Mood music 🎧

As someone who did her time in customer service, I feel for those call center workers who probably wish they could hit the "end call" button when they're getting yelled at by strangers. So today's song, Lady Gaga's "Telephone," goes out to them:

"Boy, the way you blowin' up my phone won't make me leave no faster, put my coat on faster, leave my girls no faster. I should've left my phone at home 'cause this is a disaster. Callin' like a collector. Sorry, I cannot answer."

LISTEN WHILE YOU WORK: Remember, you can listen to this song and every track I've quoted in the newsletter in the Daily Money Mood Music playlist on Spotify.