Hey, I just met you... promote me maybe?

I'm running into a weird type of person in my tyrannical and awe-inspiring reign as president of the local Young Republicans club (of which I'm sure Wagnerian tributes are being written as we speak)...

I'm not sure if this is a new phenomenon, or I've just never noticed it before.

About twice a week, I get an email that goes something like this... "Hello. I found your organization's website, and I noticed there are vacancies on the board. I am very involved. Can I have a leadership position? How can I get that?"

You would think when writing to an organization without having ever attended a single one of their meetings or for that matter met a single person that you know is in the group... you wouldn't ordinarily open with "Hey! Make me part of your executive board before I walk in the door. Oh, umm... please? There, I asked nicely."

The thing is at first my reaction to this was "Well this person's certainly enthusiastic, if a bit misguided. I'll encourage them to come out and get involved, and maybe after I know they're here to stay and not just a flash in the pan, I can find something for them to do! We can always use a few more good inner cadre types."

However, without fail, these "Hello, I found your group, give me a title now" types apparently are never in it for the long haul. Indeed, some of them never even make it to a single meeting!

Maybe it's because they join everything and want so many positions that come with some responsibility that they don't have nearly as much time as they thought they would. Maybe it's because they're of the all or nothing at all sorts of personalities. Maybe they're just looking to pad their resumes and aren't really looking to actually earn their stripes.

I've got a really solid board now. Maybe the best board I've seen since I started getting really active in the club about 8 years ago.

And I don't think a single one of them introduced themselves to the club with "Hello, how do I get to be in charge?"