The following is a list of things you can complain about at work. It is not comprehensive but will cover a lot of the territory that I usually hear about. Take a slow read and ask yourself, “Have I ever complained about…

1. The insensitive boss
2. The long commute
3. The irritating co-worker
4. The food in the break room
5. The slow computer network
6. The health benefits
7. The stress
8. The customers
9. The hours
10. The smell of reheated burritos
11. The temperature in the office
12. The empty red licorice bucket
13. The construction noise outside
14. The distance to the parking lot
15. The compensation of executives
16. The work on weekends
17. The people in IT
18. The new crop of MBAs
19. Sexual harassment training
20. The workload
21. The travel requirements
22. The airlines
23. The expense report forms
24. Take your child to work day
25. The lack of time for planning
26. The co-workers who complain
27. The uncomfortable chairs
28. The people in HR
29. The slow elevator
30. The security people at the front desk
31. The quality of the coffee
32. The clueless interns
33. The quality of the toilet paper in the lavatory
34. The “others” who get all the attention
35. The company travel policy
36. The Monday staff meetings
37. The performance review forms
38. The lack of communications
39. The office morale
40. The printer always out of paper
41. The people who constantly complain.

Any sound familiar? I suspect that some of the complaints can be heard on any given day in any office in the world. Guess what? No one cares much about complaints. Complaining doesn’t build relationships. Complaining creates a barrier — no one wants to talk to a constant complainer.

When it comes to job satisfaction, research shows that the friends we make and the relationships that we build improve satisfaction. It’s a no brainer, if you want to have healthy relationships at work, don’t complain.

If you are in a terrible situation at work, you have three options:

Option one: As is. For whatever the reasons might be, you need to keep the job. Stop complaining about it and look for good things.

Option two: Put a plan together to find a new job. Set a deadline and begin the process knowing that it may take a while. In the meantime, don’t complain. Your co-workers might need to be a reference.

Option three: Quit. Now there are no more reasons to complain about the job. Don’t find new ones.

Complaining is not your friend.