I didn't either when I bought mine. However, I'm very fortunate. The camera store that I go to is privately owned but it's huge. They have a lot of great employees, one of whom I have been able to talk to at great lengths. He's been doing all sorts of photography for most of his life. He's about 50 I would guess. When I bought my lights and meter he actually showed me the basics of the meter and made sure I understood how to apply the basic readings so that I could get started. It's actually fairly simple (in theory of course). He's also put on lighting classes which I have attended.
But I digress. Yes, the meter tells you what camera will see, in laymans terms. If you tell the meter that your shooting at ISO 100 and at 1/125 and you take a reading with the flash (or under your ambient conditions), it will tell you where you should be in terms of aperture . There is a whole lot more to them but that's another day. I'm still striving for studio basics.
