CANBERRA (Reuters) - It'* every single person'* nightmare: You're on a date, it'* a disaster but there'* no way out.

With Valentine'* Day (news - web sites) looming, a mobile phone company in Australia has come to the rescue with a service offering an escape from the date from hell.

All you have to do is discreetly dial three numbers and then hang up without saying a word.

"Virgin Mobile will call them back a minute later with a perfect excuse to get them out of there. We'll even talk them through what to say," the company, a joint venture of the Virgin Group and Optus, said in a statement.

A survey of 402 people by Virgin Mobile found that 53 percent arrange in advance to have a friend call them mid-date to check they are all right or if they need an excuse to get out.

The results showed women were twice as likely as men to use the tactic.

The person who came up with this idea must have gotten a raise.

Yeah, a freind of mine did this a couple weeks ago. He heard about it the day he was going out for the first time with a girl he hardly knew.
BTW, he didn't need the call, and they are still seeing each other.
Definitely a welcome option if you have an inkling of a feeling things will take a turn for the worse.

Mess her up and carry a cell phone jammer and watch her squrim waiting for the call

Neener-neener-neeeeeeeener!!!

I did that a couple years ago. Stuck on the date from hell at the State Fair. Bad idea. Don't go that far out of town. The drive back sucks.

Anyway, she went to the can, and I called pooky real quick, told her to call back in 10 minutes saying Katie fell off her scooter and broke her leg.

Worked like a charm

Look what he'* teaching his children???? LMAO

i saw this on cheers once and thought it was pretty funny, if you wanna scare off a date, admit to having a highly contagious skin disease and tell her insanity runs in the family.

Bill,.... that'* pretty sneaky! I always thought you were pretty sneaky!