Q:

What does the “they” stand for here?

I meet this sentence:

In the early days, very few people interacted directly with database systems, although without realizing it they interacted with databases indirectly — through printed reports such as credit card statements, or through agents such as bank tellers and airline reservation agents.

Does they here stand for very few people who interacted directly with database systems?
If it is, then the first part of this sentence means they interacted directly, but the second part means they interacted indirectly.
I am a little confused. 

A:

It's bad grammar.  In point of fact, they must, as you say refer to very few people, which gives a strained but just about comprehensible sentence.  What the author evidently intended, however, is people or many people.  Probably the best wording would be to leave they as it is,  and replace very few people with people rarely.

