Feature Story.

“I love working, it is where all my close friends are,” Katie Sweeney, a junior at ARCC says of her hobby. “I love making money, and my manger is the best. Also I believe in my product that I am selling.”
Sweeney works at Applebee’s in Coon Rapids. She has been working there since August of 2008. Sweeney decided to take a chance and work at one of the hottest spots after nine in the Coon Rapids area. “I can make up to $250 a shift there,” Sweeney claims.
Before working at Applebee’s, Sweeney had many jobs. She claims she never fully enjoyed any of them until she found work at Applebee’s. After quitting her last job Sweeney thought she was out of luck with employment.
Finally two months unemployed, she found work as a volleyball coach for Anoka Hennepin School District 11. Sweeney worked with children up until the age of 14. “Working with the kids was a rewarding experience. I learned a lot about instructing, I loved watching the kids grow with me. Some kids I had four years straight, from fifth grade up. I grew very close with their families,” Sweeney explains.
Sweeney then grew old of the coaching job and moved to St. Paul. While living in St. Paul she discovered a job opening at one of her favorite restaurants back home. A current employee, her brother, informed her of the job opportunity as a host/busser. “It’s a journey to work but it’s worth it,” Sweeney says. “Working at Applebee’s has changed my life, I met many friends and made lots of money. On top of it all I found my boyfriend of over a year while working side by side,” Sweeney gushes.
“I love the fact that I can go shopping for expensive clothes to present myself and still make more money. I get good use out of those clothes; I wear them 40 hours a week. I basically live in them,” Sweeney says.
Her boyfriend is also a server/bartender at Applebee’s. “I love that I get to see my boyfriend at home and at work,” Sweeney says. “I can understand what he says when he means bad day at work, not many couples can say that.”
During her previous jobs Sweeney explains that she was very unhappy. Her first job was at 15-years-old as a receptionist for her father’s mortgage company. There she answered phones, made meetings, sorted all the files. “I played a lot of solitaire while working there, I found it very boring, at 15 you want something exciting and I didn’t find that there.” Sweeney confessed. After her job with her father she moved on to a job as a receptionist at her dance studio to pay her tuition at 16-years-old. Once she was offered another receptionist job with better pay, she quit working for her dance studio. Sweeney accepted the job for a family friend’s title company. She then quit that job because it was an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. job Monday threw Friday during the summer. “I learned a lot at that job, I experienced working with adults in the very lucrative at the time real estate business. I had to quit because school got in the way, I was still a high school student at the time,” Sweeney says.
After all of her receptionist jobs, she found out it just wasn’t her calling. “It didn’t make me happy, I wanted a challenge, and working as a receptionist was plan ol’ boring. I didn’t want to sit at a desk all day, I wanted to do something more exciting,” Sweeney busted out. “I stayed unemployed until my family bought Quizno’s in the middle of my senior year in high school.” She worked alongside her mother, father, sister, and brother. While still working at Quizno’s Sweeney took a year off of college and chose to take real estate classes to become a licensed realtor. Soon after she got her license and was hired by Weichert Realty. Sweeney was working two jobs that summer. She was glad that the family business was closing because it distracted her from having a real job. After a about a year in real estate it became too expensive for Sweeney and she had to end her career working as a real estate agent.
Once she ended her job at Weichert she found out where her best friend worked was hiring. Guess Jeans in Albertvile Outlet Mall hired her on the spot.” I quit working there because of the poor management, also the girls’ there were catty,” Sweeney explains. After working at the clothing store Guess Jeans she was offered the job as a coach. “Finally a job I liked!”
When she ended her job as a coach she found the job she had been looking for all along. “I can’t believe I never thought about working at Applebee’s. I had to go threw all the bad jobs to finally find a good one that suited me. It was just what I had been looking to find. This is one of the best jobs in the world. It’s such a blessing,” Sweeney says blushing.
Working is one of the things Sweeney loves to do. She has been working since she legally could. Its no wonder working is her hobby; it’s been such a big part of her life. “Working is one of the thing I’m actually good at, all my experience has got me here, I’m in a great place in my life.”