If you’ve got an issue with them, the right address is them, not everybody else.

Taking a problem everywhere except to the person it is about feels safer because nothing has to be faced. It is also the version that does the most damage, since the story reaches them eventually and arrives with an audience already attached. What could have been a two-minute conversation turns into something they have to defend against. Nobody handles that well.

Decide whether it is worth saying, and if it is, say it to them first and in private. Start with what happened rather than what they are like. Most of these end faster and better than you expect.