The receptionist, with an air of vaguely irritated resignation, looked at him up and down and then asked pointedly, "Do you have an appointment?"

Zanru was in the building, and had made her orders clear, but still. It was as though the Foreigners had no concept of businesses running without their influence or encouragement, and assumed everyone else would be readily available to meet their needs at a moment.

So while the receptionist was under orders to call Zanru and let her know when a Foreigner wanted to see her as long as she was already in the building, she certainly wasn't going to let the Foreigners think everything would be dropped in a moment.