Could someone please help me to understand the bold part in text below?
I am sure you would like to hear news of home, but I am a poor person
for the job, being an outsider here. I do talk to people in the
Library and in the hotel. The travellers in the hotel mostly talk
about how business is (it is brisk if you can get the goods) and a
little about sickness, and a lot about the War. There are rumors on
rumors and opinions galore, which I'm sure would make you laugh if
they didn't make you angry. I will not bother to write them down
because I am sure there is a Censor reading this who would cut my
letter to ribbons."Casting Away" by Alice Munro
I think it means she is jobless but I am not sure because I believe she is still a librarian.
Best Answer
"Poor" can mean "having little money", but it can also mean "lacking in quality, inferior". In this case, she is referring to definition #2: She is not qualified for the job of giving news from home, because she is an "outsider". It has nothing to do with how much money she has.
If you say, "Bob is a poor singer", that means he does not sing well, not that he is a singer who has no money. Similarly, "He gave a poor excuse for showing up late": his excuse was not a good one. Etc.