Letter: Animal-service workers do the best they can

Re: Jim Richards' letter, "Waiting on hold," Forum, Oct. 18: The author is very critical of animal care services employees when he was placed on hold for an extended period, transferred to voice mail and did not have his call returned promptly. He finished his letter with, "It's a sad state of affairs we live in as taxpayers."

Perhaps the employees are not rude and lazy. Since 2008, budgets for many county services have been reduced past the point where the remaining employees can do their jobs effectively.

My daughter does not work for Salt Lake County, but she does work for animal services in another Utah county. She does not have time to answer the phone, calls go to voice mail. She returns calls as promptly as she can; however, it is rarely as quickly as people would like.

My daughter and all of her coworkers are very dedicated. Their first priority is to the animals in their care and they juggle as fast as they can.

Perhaps we should all remember that nothing is free and sometimes you get what you pay for.

Colette Madsen

Francis