On his first trip to Mexico, Harry, a U.S. manager interested in negotiating a contract for his firm with a Mexican firm, was invited to a dinner party by his Mexican counterpart. The invitation indicated that cocktails would begin at 7 p.m., so Harry arrived promptly at that time. His host seemed surprised, and no one else had arrived.

People began arriving about 8 p.m.; Harry knew he had read the invitation correctly but felt he had gotten off to a bad start. What advice would you have given Harry?