Often (usually?) when someone is coming to complain to you, they are looking for your listening/sympathy/validation/support, not your advice. If they wanted you

Often (usually?) when someone is coming to complain to you, they are looking for your listening/sympathy/validation/support, not your advice. If they wanted your advice they would typically ask for it explicitly. Unsolicited advice can come across as very unsympathetic and patronizing, and can really piss someone off if they were already in a bad mood (which is pretty common for people complaining about stuff). A more appropriate response is something like “Wow, that sounds pretty uncomfortable.” Then you let them talk for a while. Listen sympathetically and let them say everything they wanted to say before trying to interrupt, and make sure they are receptive before offering unsolicited advice. Usually if you listen to their venting for a while they will feel better than when they started. [Apologies for offering unsolicited critical advice in response to your complaints about your colleague. :) ]