Generally, there are two kinds of time. There is universal time which is measured by the earth's simultaneous rotation and orbit about the sun. This time is for everyone working in tandem to synchronize activity, set expectations and record history.
Then there is personal time. This time is truly relative, and we each have the power to manipulate it at will. Individually, we have our lifetime to play with it. And in most "free" industrialized societies people are at liberty to make choices with their own particular time.
When someone declares "I don't have time," she means I don't have time for you. Otherwise, she has all the minutes and moments till her final hour to utilize for the sake of someone or something as she pleases.
Thus, when one whines, cries or pouts about having too much to do and not enough time to do it, don't feel sorry for them. Most of the time, most of these people have alternatives or have just made the choices by which they freely suffer the consequences. Ultimately, they have the power to neglect, quit or alter the degree of all or any of their commitments.
However, one should not expect anyone to make time for you simply because they have it to wield. People who work two or more jobs to primarily provide shelter and nourishment for their children have little flexibility with their time. If it is not devoted to survival, it may be allocated solely to nurturing, caring and instruction.
Yet, there are those, most of whom the average reader knows, who are far from inescapably strapped. Thus, if he complains—take pity, but do not fall into a likewise delusion. And if she claims to not have the time for your humble request, she is either being polite or deceiving you into submission—either way, you can either concede through understanding, or be persuasive and convince her that coordinating your personal times with universal time in order to synchronize a mutual effort is worth her wile.
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