Long story short, Coworker A talks nonstop about her panic attacks and now anxious she is, inbetween other stories that are so fantastic they are hard to believe (I don't want to say here, what some of those stories have been, but they're highly unlikely to have been the truth); Coworker B whispers behind boss' back about how stressed and overworked she is (which she blames on the boss) and appears to have decided on the remedy of calling in sick 2-3 times a week. Coworker C (for chump) is me; I have to re-do the work of Coworker A and do the piled up work of Coworker B. I recognize I am paid by the hour and not the piece and I want to be sensitive to what are clearly mental health issues of both A and B. But is allowing this to continue the best response? I've said nothing confrontational to A (in part because she has indicated that if she is crossed in any way she has an attack) and up until this past week I'd been sympathetic to B, but enough gets to be enough in claiming she is overworked. She is no longer overworked; I know this because I am the one doing the work. I feel as though the boss expects me to play along in the fiction that Coworker B is pulling her own weight. I'm sure she did in the past, and I do believe she was overworked, but I see her now settling comfortably into letting me carry my load and hers. Is it best to just keep telling myself 'by the hour, not the piece'? I'm cool with that, but would have a hard time pretending any sympathy for someone I think is taking advantage of me. If someone's way of dealing with stress is to throw it off onto someone else, is it really helping them to allow them?