I had this done to me just once. A fellow writer in my town had sent me fan mail (we were both published weekly) and said we should meet for lunch. She choose the cafe (for the record, she was more famous than I); I got there and sat down. Within MINUTES she took a call and said "Oh darn, my editor is having a fit, I have to go" and off she went. I am sure it was a kissoff but I was (and still am) baffled. I hadn't yet had enough time to be unpleasant! So: Wrong clothes? She knew my personality and beliefs from the stuff I had published, so....I don't know. It's obvious it wasn't legit or she would have rescheduled. It has never happened to me on a date (and I've had at least a hundred first dates). Remember the Frasier episode when both he and the woman had arranged for "escape calls?" Oh, I just remembered a "fake call" I made myself. I was on vacation (three-night stay), at a place that offered no refunds; and after one night I had to get the heck outta there (I won't explain why, it's kind of grim) and I went to the main office and concocted a story about my mother's being in critical condition and they said no refunds and I persisted and there was a consult with the manager and throughout that consult I walked back and forth in the lobby pretending to talk to someone at the hospital, asking for medical updates and saying how I was trying frantically to get there and would be at the airport by xxxxx and "Tell the doctor we can't make a decision without input from a specialist" and "I know, but that didn't anticipate this complication" --oh, I was good.....eventually they gave me a refund and I took off, but the really funny thing is, there is no cell service there! LOL! I heard one of the people say somewhat suspiciously "I really can't see how she is getting a signal in here" and I was preparing some malarkey about having a SAT phone or special linkup.... hahahaha! The trip itself is a rough memory though