Sentence:  At that time , he afforded me the courtesy of his busy workday for such length as I may need , to speak about my background , my hopes , my views on various national and local topics , and any problems that I may have <WSD>been</WSD> vexed with at the time . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)