Do People Change?

I went back to work for Courtney, hoping she had learned a lesson. I wanted a fresh start, a meeting of the minds and it seemed to be happening -- until her husband, Joe, entered the picture. I realized that what she was telling me was different from what she told her husband when Chris Ash let me know he had asked if my workers would stay if he fired me. This put me in a terrible position. I was afraid to tie up my crew with a non-paying project for me, but I also had no work for them and landing a well-paying job isn't all that easy. I was kind enough to let them stay and I feel satisfied in how I handled leaving Courtney. Still, I was extremely disappointed that she had fallen back into her old ways and we could not see eye to eye. It looks like the only person who changed in that situation was me, since I ended our work together with no anger and what I thought was a lot of generosity.

 I'm also happy with how things ended with Chris Keslar, since I was able to keep it professional. He just refused to acknowledge his mistakes, which irritated me beyond belief. A simple "I'm sorry" would have worked just fine, but he rarely apologized. Instead, he tried to justify his actions. I began to question his motives for working with me. I understand it takes a while to get used to having three cameras follow you wherever you go, but Chris seemed overly distracted. As a result, he made a lot of mistakes. Yes -- I teased him mercilessly, but I now realize that it was because I became increasingly suspicious about his motives. When I look back, I wonder if he was in it for his own advancement rather than making a contribution. He had failed to tell me that his mother and his sister had already appeared on Project Runway -- I learned of that much later. I also found out he was taking acting classes on Saturdays. This confused me because I was under the impression he wanted to pursue design. 

 I resolved that he must have been in it for the show. Why else would he have asked Zoila to trade seats with him so he could show the camera his best profile? (Is it possible that he could just be a vain man? Maybe.) By the way, Zoila is so perceptive, she was onto him before I started questioning his motives. Maybe this is why she seemed so agitated around him. At Jeff Lewis's office, my business comes before the show, while Chris was making the show more important. That isn't the way to get promoted. You get promoted by making yourself indispensable. And Chris was making himself disposable. I know I hazed him relentlessly, but his behavior was making me suspect and I was annoyed and disappointed. One afternoon, he interrupted an important meeting to ask me what he should wear in an upcoming photo shoot -- five days away..