I agree with helen that sometimes we enjoy rehashing a complaint session. One of my favourite memories of being at a boarding school (yes, it was all-girls', yes, it was Catholic, no, there was not a boys' school across the street - we were in a town of population 98 in the middle of the Canadian prairies) was what we called "bitch sessions" that used to occur, usually spontaneously. You'd be in your friend's room, and just complaining about something or other...then someone else would stop by and agree vigorously, and soon, instead of people just stopping by to say hello, you had five or ten girls sitting around complaining about everything that was possible to complain about. It was very good for the psyche, I think.