diff --git a/typescript/infra/helm/helloworld-kathy/templates/stateful-set.yaml b/typescript/infra/helm/helloworld-kathy/templates/stateful-set.yaml
index 42744af4d..1533530e7 100644
--- a/typescript/infra/helm/helloworld-kathy/templates/stateful-set.yaml
+++ b/typescript/infra/helm/helloworld-kathy/templates/stateful-set.yaml
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ spec:
   template:
     metadata:
       labels: *metadata_labels
+      annotations:
+        prometheus.io/port: "9090"
+        prometheus.io/scrape: "true"
     spec:
       containers:
       - name: helloworld-kathy
diff --git a/typescript/infra/scripts/helloworld/kathy.ts b/typescript/infra/scripts/helloworld/kathy.ts
index 3de18fd70..af24f86ac 100644
--- a/typescript/infra/scripts/helloworld/kathy.ts
+++ b/typescript/infra/scripts/helloworld/kathy.ts
@@ -116,6 +116,15 @@ async function main() {
     });
   }, sendFrequency);
 
+  // init the metrics because it can take a while for kathy to get through everything and we do not
+  // want the metrics to be reported as null in the meantime.
+  for (const { origin, destination: remote } of pairings) {
+    messagesSendCount.labels({ origin, remote, status: 'success' }).inc(0);
+    messagesSendCount.labels({ origin, remote, status: 'failure' }).inc(0);
+    messageSendSeconds.labels({ origin, remote }).inc(0);
+    messageReceiptSeconds.labels({ origin, remote }).inc(0);
+  }
+
   for (
     // in case we are restarting kathy, keep it from always running the exact same messages first
     let currentPairingIndex = Date.now() % pairings.length;
diff --git a/typescript/utils/src/utils.ts b/typescript/utils/src/utils.ts
index 90a5bd39d..e137c7363 100644
--- a/typescript/utils/src/utils.ts
+++ b/typescript/utils/src/utils.ts
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ export function timeout<T>(
   if (!timeoutMs || timeoutMs <= 0) return promise;
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
     setTimeout(() => {
-      throw new Error(message);
+      reject(new Error(message));
     }, timeoutMs);
     promise.then(resolve).catch(reject);
   });