"Displaying only the newest results below" is shown on a list view with only 42 items

We have a list that contains 11,000 items.  We have a view defined for this list that currently for me (farm admin) returns about 42 items.  One of our employees tried to access that particular view of the list and for her only 7 items are returns.  Also, at the top of the screen she can see this message "Displaying only the newest results below.  To view all results, narrow your query by adding a filter".  This seems strange.  First, why can't she see all 42 results?  Second, why would the message say that in order to view all results (which I'm assuming would be more than what she currently sees, she needs to add a filter.  I thought a filter would make it return fewer results, not more.  I can understand if this message was shown on the "All items" view which returns all 11,000 items but not on a view that returns 42 items.

Any idea how to fix this?  We do not want to increase the list view threshold unless it's absolutely necessary.

thanks,