Interesting. A valuable heuristic, but I would have thought this applied more to a woman's perspective. If two people have gotten as far as this being an issue, if the man makes an excuse, she should definitely apply the Emily Blunt rule. Given that he knows she's into him enough to make a date, if he's into her, he will 100% make it happen. Nothing will stop him. If he's letting some minor thing like getting run over by a garbage truck thwart his showing up, he's not that into her. The real problem with most men is they are very obtuse about detecting when a woman in interested in them. By the time a man starts to suspect a woman might be interested in him, and begins picking up the subtle, ambiguous clues, thinking, "hey, is she flirting with me?" then back in the real world she's had him by the collar, slapping him back and forth saying "My god dude, why do you still have your clothes on?!"