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Last week, while I was in the office, I remember saying to someone as a joke, "Our jobs would be perfect if it weren’t for clients, am I right?"

We were feeling a little stressed, and we had a good laugh about it. But later on, I regretted saying it -- even though it was said in jest.

This may sound a bit Pollyanna-ish, but while I think venting is healthy, especially in an agency environment -- or heck, any work environment with insane deadlines and lots of collaborators -- I also worry about where we draw the line.

At some point, letting off steam in a totally normal way about clients -- or even the coworkers we’re partnering with on projects -- can devolve into something that’s really toxic.

It can drag everyone down, create opportunities for people to play the victim instead of taking responsibility, tarnish your reputation, or even completely subvert the positive culture your company is (hopefully) trying to cultivate.

So, that’s what we want to talk about today.

Why does this happen? Why is it a bad thing? How do we know when we’re crossing a line? And what do we do about it if we’re surrounded by it?

Enjoy!