It wasn't a joke, she asked for help in the form of how do I do X without using Y. I just went 'ha - yeah everyone has trouble with Y when they first see it. It's a bit tricky, let me show you how it's done using Y and then how it's done without using Y'. I correctly assumed she was avoiding the use of Y due to her unfamiliarity with it. She was a band new intern and I had many years of experience. She had been regularly coming to me for help which I had been doing after hours on my own time. She did not understand the seriousness of the hr thing and expected me to continue mentoring her like nothing had happened.