The meeting request from the sales manager said that The Scientist was "cordially" invited to a work-related dinner later that week. While most would consider it a pleasant thing to be invited to ANY dinner, he supposed, and while the restaurant the company was springing for was fairly upscale (or so he had heard - he did not venture much past the three restaurants he felt comfortable in), he found he was having a hard time getting past the introductory phrase of the invitation.