A glossy report divided borrowers by socioeconomic group and claimed to measure the reading habits of the populace. (socioeconomic: in this context social and economic; populace: population, public, inhabitants) Its author had mistaken the number of library visits for the number of books read. A delivery driver who collected novels for fifteen residents counted as one reader. The children's school trip counted as thirty.
The manager wondered what reference group made her own reading seem so slow. (reference group: comparison group, reference population) She was comparing herself with a retired teacher who had an afternoon free every day. Social comparison made her feel lazy until she remembered the teacher's most frequent borrower: a night porter with a passion for verse. (social comparison: comparison with others, interpersonal comparison, relative self-evaluation) The report had no column for the gratification he got from returning a borrowed book with the last line learned by heart. (gratification: satisfaction, pleasure, fulfillment)
She added a blank to the form for deliveries and another for books shared aloud. The next report was less simple and more fair-minded. (fair-minded: impartial, unbiased, evenhanded) Its finest comment came from the porter. He had lent the report to a friend. Should the manager count that as one reader or two?