Seriously wondering if people who complain the loudest about squalor they're in, secretly prefer it that way.

I recently took on an area management role in a youth organisation where my territory takes up a massive chunk of NSW - in fact I probably have the largest operating area in NSW - over 40,000 square km.

Before I started, the state branch wanted to reorganise the area local branches fell into because they had long been neglected, whilst the local branches felt forgotten about and resented the state branch.

At the time I past my training phase, the head of the state branch asked me to approach 2 senior members of the local branch to take on the area management role. Neither wanted it and the head of my local branch encouraged me to do it. I agonised over it for 6 months before putting my hand up, and when I did, the head of the state branch agreed to give me the job.

I honestly thought that if I came on board if everyone was so unhappy and desperate to fix it that everyone would get behind me. I even gave up work for this so I can devote myself to it full time, seeing it as a means of reskilling and work experience to get out of retail.

Instead, the whole thing is starting to look like a poisoned chalice.

Around the time I got the job, the head of the local branch I was in changed their tune and has been nothing but snarky while I have done but bend over backwards. The head of a reopening local branch is so bad that you could put Frank Spencer from Some Mothers Do Ave Em in there and he'd do a better job while the head of the state branch's response has been to "just give him time and more training" when he leans on everyone else and even ditched the meeting, leaving parents and their kids in the lurch last week so he could go and buy parts for his car. Meanwhile while the other local branch still open has improved, he still expects me to bend the rules when it suits him, with me having to fill out his public liability forms for an extra meeting (something he was responsible for) and trying to talk me into passing one of his kids on an exam they needed to pass and had failed - largely because they had failed to supply the materials to the kids until the last minute.

Then there's the head of the state branch. I had heard he can be difficult at times, but I thought that if I worked with him, that there wouldn't be an issue.

An opportunity came up in terms of volunteers to start a new local branch not far from me. I spoke to the head of the state branch, who after checking his diary with me while he was on the phone to me, told me the only weekend available for the necessary public meeting, was the Queens Birthday long weekend and that if I was to go ahead with this, to just keep him in the loop.

I lined up everything. I not only got a venue, but the principal of the school even encouraged several of her pupils to join. I lined up the venue as the venue for the public meeting as well as the regular meeting place. I even got lucky enough to manage to get the local newspaper not only willing to publish a short article I'd written, but offer to write an article about the squadron at its opening and at regular intervals to update the community on its progress.

At the last state branch meeting, I raised in general business that the head of the state branch had directed me to fill in the community usage agreement without the need for the organisation's seal and that the public meeting was set for the Monday of the long weekend - venue TBA.

Everything looked fine - until yesterday that is.

I emailed the head of the state branch who called me up to have a go at me and swore blind it wasn't that date - even though I mentioned it in general business without any issue (he was present at that meeting) and everyone I spoke to distinctly remembers me mentioning that date as soon as I got off the phone to him during the conversation where the date was penciled in. He claimed he "couldn't keep up with" me and that I was going "too fast", despite him setting the deadline and me keeping him in the loop.

I stuck to my guns, stating that that was the date he'd told me, and he snarkily fired back with "you're just like your friend ______, you're always right". I politely stuck to my guns as I refused to lie and then added that if the date didn't work, what date did he want to move it to. He responded to the effect of "you're right, I'm wrong, just forget the whole thing" - and then hung up on me.

He tried calling a few times yesterday and I was too furious with him to answer; I'm still nto in the mood to talk to him. This is the same head of the state branch who was passive-aggressively ripping into every single area manager at the last meeting for failing to open up local branches, yet when I manage to do it single-handedly and completely according to the organisation's bylaws, I'm shut down.

I'm honestly wondering why I'm even doing this. I was happy to do this unpaid voluntary role, just to help out initially and the re-skilling and organisational advancement potential was simply the cherry on top of the cream on the cake and didn't cross my mind until a good month or so into the role. I even figured that the problems I faced at the local branch level would go once a few more local branches were being started and their choice was to either get with the program or look out of step with this. I'm regularly making 6 hour round trips and the odd overnight stay to visit local branches My wife has noted that I'm so dedicated to this that I've turned into a bit of a workaholic.

However if I'm going to be shut down from sustainably growing the area I'm in, which does nothing to deal with my local branch issues, means that nothing is being done to restore the area to what it once was and makes this a waste of my time in terms of using this to get out of retail, then what is the point of my making all the sacrifices I am for this organisation?

Like I said, I honestly wonder if those who was supposedly so unhappy with all of this, secretly prefer to keep staying in the squalor.