In the late 1990's I was working at a large telecommunications company. Several employees would use our staff meetings, hallways and general conversations as bitch sessions.
It got to the point where I needed to identify good complaining from bad complaining. I finally decided that it is OK to point out a problem, but what you do immediately thereafter is of vital importance.
I created this Problem Identification Definitions as a tool to help me and others to determine what the person was who was pointing out a problem. I posted this quotation on my home page on our company's intranet web site.
My supervisor ordered me to take it down because it offended some people.
See also 3-Step Problem Resolution and my Favorite Quotations.