[afarrell]

> Just do not ask for an unbounded amount of time.

Right. Lots of people ask "will you be my mentor", which is such an unspecified question that it is effectively the same as asking for an unbounded amount of time.

Asking a specific well-formed question or asking if you can meet with someone for a specified period of time are bounded requests. I'll bet there are other more creative types of requests we can come up with.