“PC Load Letter” ? What the
#@(^!@#! Does That Mean?

Forget about road rage or air rage, we have real problems now. Canadians suffer from a new affliction, aptly entitled Photocopier Rage. Yes, that’s right, a recent poll shows that millions of Canadians have either hit or kicked a photocopier – or have seriously considered it.

A poll by Ipsos-Reid for Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Ltd. found that more than one in 10 Canadians who’ve used a photocopier at work have been so frustrated they’ve actually kicked or hit it. Three in 10 said that they have “seriously wanted to kick or hit” their photocopier but ultimately showed restraint.

“The poll results suggest that photocopier rage is an issue for millions of Canadians,” says Jean-Paul Desmarais, a category manager at HP Canada. “The results suggest that more than five million Canadian office workers have fought back the urge to kick or hit their office photocopier, while more than two million have actually struck their machine.”

Interestingly, the people more likely to abuse or want to hurt the photocopier are those with the higher education, and the higher income. And apparently men are showing more restraint, as the survey also shows that women are more likely than men (48 percent vs. 37 percent) to admit harbouring such feelings about their photocopier. And workers in Alberta (51 percent) and Ontario (49 percent) had the highest incidence of photocopier rage, while those in Quebec (27 percent) were the least likely to get angry.

While using photocopiers frustrate people, the good news is that they can walk off their feelings on the trip to and from the machine. The poll found that Canadians walk an average of more than 40 km in one year to and from the photocopier and printer. The average round trip to the photocopier is about 22 metres, and to the printer is about 9 metres. The average worker makes about 21 trips to the photocopier and 51 trips to the printer each week, the poll discovered.

When all is said and … kicked, who is the least enraged with their machine? Quebec workers (72 percent), men (63 percent), and those earning less than $30,000 a year (69 percent).

So take that!