Did I tell you this bugs me?

You’re going to read it, see something annoying and go gripe about it to your cubemate.

Maybe you won’t like the writing style. Perhaps you’ll read an unflattering description of some of your more common office behaviors. Or you might resent some career coach telling you to put a cork in it.

Regardless, you’ll find some fault and transform it into a complaint that you’ll broadcast to anyone within earshot.

Complaining is endemic to the American work force, as much a part of office life as annual performance reviews or monthly birthday celebrations. And experts say that’s not always a good thing, because nonstop kvetching can rob employees and their businesses of productivity and morale. It can also sabotage careers, tarring habitual fussbudgets as uncooperative troublemakers who can’t reliably handle new tasks.

A 2006 survey from WorkWorries.com found that 58 percent of respondents spend an hour or more a day complaining of or fielding complaints about difficult co-workers.

And constant grumbling about assignments landed at the top of a roster of most-irritating office habits in a 2005 survey from TrueCareers.com. Nearly 60 percent of the questionnaire’s 2,200 participants said incessant whining has negatively affected workplace relationships and resulted in at least "somewhat significant" losses in output.

"Complaining is horribly negative," said Stacey Lane, a career coach based in Portland, Ore. "It’s rarely positive. It really affects a company’s bottom line and it really affects how efficient and effective companies and their employees can be at solving problems."

The sniping was noticeable enough at the Henderson accounting firm of Houldsworth, Russo & Co. a few years back that the company’s owners began to look for ways to curb it. The issues weren’t serious — just myriad petty grievances that came up time and again, said Karen Durkin, a business coach who joined the firm as a principal in 2001 to improve corporate practices.

"We seemed to have a lot of unnecessary turmoil," Durkin said. "Problems would just kind of ferment. It got to the point where people would be talking to each other and they’d say, ‘Yeah, but…,’ or, ‘I’m listening, but….’ People would go back and forth and nothing would be resolved. They weren’t really listening to each other."

So the company instituted a new policy: No drama and no commas. Today, executives and employees spot trouble early and stop the venting before it escalates. And cutting off commas prevents the "yeah, but" exchanges that often precede a fresh round of grousing, Durkin said.

Not all complaining is bad, observers say.

For example, supervisors should heed employees who are pointing out unethical or illegal behavior in the office.

Plus, occasional nitpicking can serve as a pressure valve, enabling workers to blow off steam before their frustrations boil over. Zero-tolerance policies on complaining often backfire because they prevent such release, Lane said.

When the murmuring evolves into finger-pointing and avoiding responsibility, though, it can become toxic to an organization. So how can supervisors keep a lid on talk about discontents?

First, executives need to understand that their staff members will turn to complaining when they have few outlets for constructive criticism of their company’s operations. So Lane suggested establishing formal forums for feedback from workers. Try regular town hall meetings during which company officials discuss corporate news and happenings and open up the session to staff comments. Workers are likelier to couch an airing of pet peeves in constructive terms when a broad audience is listening, Lane said.

Second, keep workers informed. People complain when they don’t know what’s going on, and they tend to make up or spread rumors to fill in their knowledge gaps, Lane said.

Communication is key at Cenicola-Helvin.com, a Las Vegas consulting firm that provides e-commerce services. The moment an issue between employees emerges, the company’s owners urge the parties to get together with department heads and hash out the situation, partner Mark Cenicola said.

The company also maintains an employee "wish list" on how to improve operations and make life on the job easier. Suggestions are often small and simple — a higher partition to block out sound from a noisy neighbor, for example, or some higher-grade office supplies.

"Spend the money on handling the small things," Cenicola said. "It’ll pay off big-time in the end."

Supervisors should take note of even insignificant gripes, Cenicola said.

"People want to be heard," he said. "Sometimes, they just want to complain. Even if you can’t do anything about the problem immediately, don’t just write it off as office banter. Acknowledge it."

Managers should also model desired behavior. Leaders should set expectations about the kind of culture they want at the company, and they should demonstrate the coping mechanisms they’d like employees to adopt, Durkin said.

Durkin also recommended developing alternative strategies for decompressing stressed employees. Houldsworth, Russo & Co., for example, follows the end of each tax season with a field trip, either to an afternoon matinee or an afternoon-long lunch.

"We sneak away, laugh and have a great time," Durkin said.

And remember, almost all workplace bitching stems from fixable dilemmas. If an employee brings you a complaint, urge her to think about the issue’s causes and effects and ask her for some ideas that would resolve the problem.

"Very few businesses don’t have problems with problems," Durkin said. "Try to reward people who solve problems, because really, aren’t we all hired to solve problems? How many of us have jobs that aren’t about solving problems?"