Hi icecreamkid, there`s a lot of "office politics" going on for sure. u can be supportive and not enable either. Let the coworker say what they have 2 say. But learn how not to internalize that bs. As hard as it can be sometimes we have to let go of worrying how stupid- behaving a person is. You dont have contol over her perceptions of how she feels, you only have control over how u feel and u can make a conscious effect to detatch and remove ur emotions from dealing with her. u can outwardly be kind to her but inward work on not letting her excuses trouble u. for example, if u tend to be like saying "there, there it will be ok" change the response 2, "I`m sorry you feel that way" i know its a little bit colder but u have to get away from being so outwardsly supportive and move to a neutral response. thats just my opinion though.