God, that happened to me, as a host, last year. I was throwing my grandma a surprise birthday party. Guests were told to arrive at 6:30 because she was supposed to arrive at 7:00. (My mother was bringing her-- this time she knew she couldn’t be early!)
Two of my grandma’s friends showed up at 5:45. I didn’t know them. I was still running around trying to get last-minute preparations done and DING-DONG! here are these two elderly ladies (who are, unfortunately, poor conversationalists) that I have to entertain. Hubby, damn him, “gallantly” offered to do the prep work to leave me free to chat with the ladies. It was the longest fucking hour of my life, waiting for the other guests to arrive so I could escape into mingling.