Starwood Lurker astutely notes:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">You wouldn't want everyone sitting around outside smelling that BBQ and grumbling about so and so not being there yet.
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As a Certified BBQ Fanatic who travels the world looking for the best BBQ, I can attest that this is one thing that would drive me crazy to the point of saying, "Screw my Mother! She's late. That's her problem. Let's eat!"
We all have our priorities, after all.