A person's excuse that they
flaked out on an agreed-upon meeting or date with you because their phone was
not working, not paid, or not charged. These excuses are often belied by the fact that a call to the user results in a normal dial tone, rather than going straight to
voicemail.
The dead phone routine usually goes
something like this:
1. "Sorry, I
got stuck downtown and my phone died."
2. "Hey I just got my phone back up I had to pay it first."