pillar

from pillar to post from one place to another in an unceremonious or fruitless manner.

☞ This expression may have developed with reference to the rebounding of a ball in a real-tennis court. It has been in use in this form since the mid 16th century, though its earlier form, from post to pillar, dates back to the early 15th century.

2011Financial Times After almost a year of being bounced from pillar to post and asked to make changes to his product at his own expense, he was told that it failed to tick the right boxes.

a pillar of society a person regarded as a particularly responsible citizen.

☞ The use of pillar to mean 'a person regarded as a mainstay or support for something' is recorded from medieval times; Pillars of Society was the English title of an 1888 play by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen.