Tutor

tutor
verb, transitive. To have the guardianship, tutelage, or care of; to teach or guide, usually individually in a special subject or for a particular purpose.
verb, intransitive. To do the work of a tutor; to receive instruction, especially privately.
Also a noun.

The phone interrupted Ruth just before she was about to save the business card she had just finished as a PDF and email it to the client. Compressing her lips, she continued with the steps, thinking that it was probably another telemarketing call. She would let the answering machine pick up.

“Ruth? Are you there? This is May Coolidge.”

Ruth was shocked at how much her anger flared at the sound of that voice. May was a customer of the printing company that had laid Ruth off a couple of months previously, and not a good customer, either. May dabbled in design and layout and was constantly calling the office to ask Ruth’s advice on how to use the software necessary to produce high-quality work. Once May finished one of her little projects, she would bring the files to Ruth’s company and do her best to coerce Ruth’s boss into printing it for free or at a deep discount. She had used up Ruth’s reservoir of patience long ago.

“Hello,” she spoke into the phone, wondering how May had tracked her down at home. She knew that no one at her former office would have given out her number.

“Oh, you’re there! Listen, I’m putting together a newsletter for my genealogy group, and I have a bunch of JPGs. Is it okay if I use those?”

“It depends. What’s the resolution?”

“Mmm. I haven’t opened them to find out yet.”

“They need to be 300 pixels per inch at the size they’re going to print. If they are, it would be better if you convert them to TIFs before you place them in the document.”

“Aww! TIFs take up so much memory...”

Ruth could hear the familiar whining tone in May’s voice. The woman insisted on doing everything on the cheap. Ruth was certain that May’s hard drive was already strained nearly to its limit by the software alone. She was surprised that the other woman wasn’t always complaining about it crashing. “There’s a good reason for that,” she remarked, but didn’t elaborate. Instead, she decided that it was high time she told May some unwelcome facts. “If you’re not going to set up the files properly, you shouldn’t do it at all, May. You will only cause problems on the press. That will cause delays and cost money, and if it costs you money, it will serve you right.” She heard May sputter on the other end of the line and went on: “You keep asking me pretty basic questions. You need to devote time to learning how to use your software to do your projects. There are thousands of free tutorials online that will teach you almost everything you need to know. You can also spend time reading discussions on the software users’ groups. That’s how I learned everything I know. If you want to continue calling me so I can tutor you over the phone--long distance--I’m going to have to bill you forty-five dollars an hour.”

“What?!?!” May shouted into her ear. “That’s outrageous!”

“That’s what I charge my freelance clients. You interrupted me while I was working on a project for one of them. It’s only fair that I charge you the same for taking up my time.” Ruth actually charged her clients thirty-five an hour, except for one who annoyed her. She charged him forty-five. May definitely qualified as annoying.

This was met with a long silence. Finally, May replied: “I’ll have to think about that.” She sounded defeated. Ruth smiled, but said nothing. After another moment, May said goodbye and hung up. Ruth hoped that that would be the last conversation she would ever have with the woman.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.