LITTLE HITLERS

"LITTLE HITLER
A self-important person who wields a small amount of official authority with despotic zeal"

 - The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

I used to disparage tennis club committees because of the Little Hitlers who seem to gravitate to these and swore to never join one.

I do belong to a casual weekday tennis 'club' but fortunately there is no committee and no meetings where arguments can arise.

I recently joined (and later resigned from) a local association which although it spent a lot of time on mundane matters wasn't run by Little Hitlers. I resigned for another reason.

I joined a bowling club last year and this year (unrelated) it is going through some problems of financial management and funding. There is a Little Hitler at this club who definitely fits the definition above. At a special meeting that was just held though he wasn't in attendance so might be getting the old 'heave-ho'.

A community club I belong to, sort of like a Cosmopolitan Club has an AGM coming up next month. Yesterday I received a lot of emails - a couple from the officers of the club desperately trying to explain their recent actions (kind of like Donald Trump trying to weasel out of his Helsinki press conference remarks):

and others from disgruntled members who are having problems with the club and who are calling for impeachment of the president and the governing committee. It's going to be a doozy of an AGM. I think I'll go to watch the fireworks. Last year I was tempted to put my name forward for the committee but am now glad that I didn't do so.

The golf club I belong to obviously has a committee and being golf this has the usual blowhards and I'm sure some Little Hitlers. I don't get involved preferring to just be a casual member who plays a few solitary rounds.

Life's too short to get involved with officious little organisations which spend an inordinate amount of time in making up silly rules.