Good morning! My name is Kristi Watson, a lot of you know me as “Admin Assistant” but that’s okay, you’ll get to know me better in a couple minutes!
I believe that everyone has a story or a “past” and, as a 22 year old, I could say a lot more than I would care to admit. I was born in Delaware, raised in Delaware and have never traveled anywhere besides Delaware’s connecting states. Growing up it was my 4 brothers, my sister and me. My dad moved away for most of my life and my mom worked during the day and went out most nights. My mom “raised” 6 kids on her own so as you could imagine there was never any money. We spent countless nights with not enough to eat, no heat and no electricity (the no electricity part was okay, my mom let us build a tent in the living room and have us camp out). Believe it or not, that was ongoing until I was 14. My dad is a borderline alcoholic, if not already. One of my closest friends died at the age of 21. I became anorexic. And the list goes on. Even though I have had it “rough”, I wouldn’t change how I grew up. My siblings and I are the closest of friends you would ever meet. I’ve learned in every situation what not to do and how to cope. As corny as it sounds, it made me who I am today and I’m pretty happy at this point in my life.
As soon as I turned 18, I moved out and got my first job at yours truly… Buffalo Wild Wings! I know what you’re thinking, first job at 18… late bloomer. However, my mom was also VERY strict and wouldn’t let any of us kids get a job until we were 18. When I started what is now my career I was a cashier at Middletown, 9 months later I was a cook and after 3 months of that I quit and got my first “big girl job” at Sallie Mae. What I didn’t know, was that the “big girl job” my family and everyone wanted me to have wasn’t the life for me and I wasn’t going to do something that didn’t make me happy. I decided that my job wasn’t going to be another “rough” part of my life. I quit after 3 months. I remember the day I asked for my job back at BWW, Pete Luard was outback smoking, I walked up to him and all that was said is “you want your job back don’t you? What department? You can have any.” and I swear that’s the first time I’ve ever seen him smile and the first time I realized I was part of the H5H Family and didn’t want to leave.
For the next year and a half, I was a server. After I thought I knew everything there was to know I was going to become a WCT, then a bartender. However, all of that changed when this guy walked into BWW. Apparently I was the only one who didn’t know who he was. What was more strange was the frightened looks on all the servers’ faces. The host asked if I could take a table out of my section and I of course said “sure I’ll take him!” This guy ended up being Mark Trewartha. I didn’t know who he was until the next time I saw him at a calibration meeting the GM’s had once a month on a Wednesday at Middletown. Since then I served every one of those meetings (Some GMs might remember me as the girl in the camo hat). Shortly after, I was honored as Mark coined me, I must have been doing something right as an employee for the COO to do something so prodigious. I thought I was on top of the world knowing that I was thought of so highly in my position. Time flew by and before I knew it Mark and Katie Rullo asked if I would like to submit my resume for an Administrative Assistant position. They were both a little hesitant as they asked because, for those of you who don’t know me, I am not the one to sit behind a desk all day. I would rather be outside fishing, hunting or helping my boyfriend on his truck. I was 20 at the time and thought to myself how great of an opportunity this would be even though it scared me. I didn’t want to be unhappy again with a job behind a computer, but since I knew that this company was my family, even if I failed, they would always be there to support me. I interviewed with Mark 3 or 4 times, and they were the longest interviews of my life!
As you all know, I got the job and I couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out! I love to help/serve people and I get to do that on a daily basis because of this job! I perform the best that I can every day because if I didn’t from square one, when I was a cashier, I wouldn’t be here today. I’ve seen what it’s like to not give it 100% and I’m not going to do that to myself or anyone around me. If I don’t think I’m giving quite 100%, I look up to my mentors, Mark and Katie, because they believe in me the way I can’t believe in myself and I couldn’t thank them enough for the knowledge I am getting along this journey. My goals within the next couple years are to go to college, once I can decide on a major, with hopes of one day changing my name and role from Admin Assistant. I’ll tell you this much, since I started my career with H5H I got a lot a new friends I can count on. I love going to work every day and to top it all off, me and my boyfriend Austin, of almost 5 years, recently bought a house together. I know I have a long ride ahead of me but “Fear has 2 meanings, Forget Everything And Run, or Face Everything And Rise. The choice is yours.”
What’s your Story?
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