On the topic of unhappy people delivering great work... see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharashka

I mean, the alternative was that they did hard labor. So I guess there is a silver lining to everything.

There is power to "wow doing this shit fucking sucks, might as well get good at doing this shit work because there is nothing better to do"

I'd argue that this is only true sometimes.

As the author says in the last paragraph, sometimes people do need to complain and need that commiseration. Not allowing that, or shutting it down immediately, makes it fester and just get worse.

There are ways of commiserating that don't confirm the complaint, though. Being heard is usually 90% of the need, so just "I hear you, and feel your frustration" is often enough to get them back to an emotional even keel.

And yes, there are people who love to complain, and are only happy when it rains. Managing them can be difficult, because it's treading that fine line between hearing them and agreeing with them.

Personally, I find frustration to be a powerful motivator. I’m not really sure that _happiness_ per se is what leads to better work, but I think feeling empowered to change something is.