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1Stood Up is a [[LoveTropes Love Trope]] that extends over several genres. Two (or more) characters plan to get together but one of them never shows up. This is usually a romantic date (or one or both of the characters may hope it is) but it could also involve a platonic couple, colleagues or family members.
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3The outcome varies a lot, depending on genre, setting, the kind of characters involved, etc. The character who is stood up will usually be traumatized and their self-confidence will take a blow. On the more idealistic side, there may be a good reason for not showing up, and the character may be forgiven. On the more cynical side, there may be no good reason and the relationship may end there. Played for comedy, it's all a misunderstanding; played for tragedy, something horrible may have happened. If it's set up from the beginning, it's a type of PrankDate.
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5A common subversion involves another character [[RelationshipSabotage deliberately orchestrating things]] so that it appears one person has been stood up.
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7Compare DaddyDidntShow, which is where a parent fails to show up to see their child and [[RunawayBride Runaway Bride/Groom]], which is a case of one party failing to show up to their own wedding.
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9!!Examples
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13[[folder:Advertising]]
14* Kate Spade New York has produced a series of online-video ads called Miss Adventures. In the episode "The Best Company," Creator/AnnaKendrick, a regular at the Russian Tea Room, arrives there only to find that her date has stood her up, leaving her with only her dog for company.
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17[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
18* ''Franchise/CodeGeass'' does a version of Stood Up that doesn't quite fit one of the examples above. Shirley, one of Lelouch's best friends who has a crush on him, invites him to a concert. When an important meeting for his LaResistance group comes up, he tries to phone her to apologize and not raise suspicions but she calls him first to say that she and her mother have to do something out in the country. When he finally shows up at the concert hall long after it's over, Shirley's standing alone in the rain and looking ''very'' tearful. He tries to apologize, but she interrupts to reveal that her father Joseph was killed by Zero (Lelouch's secret identity), and that "something out in the country" was identifying his corpse. Cue full-episode {{Angst}} for Lelouch. [[spoiler: And a full-blown BreakTheCutie for poor Shirley.]]
19* [[spoiler: Nanako Misonoo]] from ''Manga/DearBrother'' is on the receiving end in the anime. [[spoiler: Rei Asaka, the [[LesYay older girl]] she was meeting with, [[LookBothWays falls in the path of a train]] [[BuryYourGays and gets fatally hit]]. The police calls her siblings Takeshi and Fukiko, with the latter attending the call and suffering an HeroicBSOD. Nanako, however, has no idea, so she waits for Rei in their date spot for hours, and doesn't find out until she gets ready to go home... and then her friend Tomoko meets up with her and takes her to the hospital where Fukiko, Takeshi, and Rei's best friend Kaoru are waiting -- next to Rei's lifeless body.]] The poor kid's following HeroicBSOD is ''the'' TearJerker of the series.
20* Hiro in ''[[VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo Ef- A Tale of Memories]]'' tells his would be girlfriend Miyako he'll meet her at the fountain. In a classic twist, his other potential love interest Kei gets a serious injury in her leg and Hiro accompanies her to the clinic. Miyako is so distressed that she waits for hours and leaves a series of 99 (!) increasingly distressed messages on his phone, which he doesn't have with him. (To be fair to Miyako, she's got HUGE emotional issues from ''before'' she met Hiro [[spoiler:due to her parents's horrible divorce and her subsequent ParentalAbandonment]].) [[KickTheDog Kei finds said phone and deletes them before he can even check]], [[GreenEyedMonster out of pure jealousy]].
21* ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'': Sousuke does this to Chidori fairly often, when he's called to go away on a mission and forgets to tell her.
22* In ''Manga/{{Hanayamata}}'', to her own dismay, Yaya stands up Naru (her long-time best friend and [[LesYay somewhat romantic interest]]) on a promise to go see a movie together. When there is still much time before the appointment, Yaya runs into Hana (a newcomer girl, towards whom Yaya at the time has an unvoiced grudge for stealing Naru's attention). The relationship improves between the two in their hanging out, but Yaya ends up forgetting the date until it's too late.
23* Non-romantic version happens in ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler''. Hayate sends Hinagiku a challenge letter (written by Isumi). After thinking it over she realizes she might be in love with him, and the letter is his way of planning to confess to her. She waits until 11:30 before he arrives, getting increasingly angry at his lateness. When he finally does show up, she attacks him before he can explain himself.
24** It was her birthday that the 'date' was to happen, and he's promised her a present in thanks for letting him stay over earlier. Even though there's nothing romantic about it, neither of them planned to confess, she does realize she's in love with him at the end of the night.
25** Hayate had a good reason for forgetting it as well. The challenge was issued because he needed to defeat her to get rid of a curse. During the festival she was named for, Nagi got kidnapped, and Hayate had to deal with running through the crowd while crossdressed to save her. She then frightened off the curse, so, tired and with no further reason to still keep the appointment, he falls asleep right after that, waking up [[SomethingWeForgot thinking he's forgotten something]], and then remembers.
26* ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'': A really strange variant happens in an early chapter. Godai asks Kyoko to a fancy restaurant for the anniversary of her becoming the landlady. However, she mistook the name of the restaurant for the local pub. She realizes the mistake later in the evening and rushes there.
27* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': This almost happened when, thanks to a drugged tea, Negi overshot an afternoon nap and woke up four hours after his date with Nodoka. After panicking a bit, Chamo reminds Negi that since it's ''[[ShrinkingViolet Nodoka]]'' he's dating, there's a very good chance that she patiently waited for him during all that time, making Negi panic even more. Good thing that it was all part of [[MadScientist Chao's]] test run for her experimental TimeMachine, eh?
28* [[TearJerker A particularly tragic version]] occurs in ''Manga/OutlawStar''. Jim sets up a date with Hanyou, a nice girl that he meets... [[spoiler:and then kills her in a space battle. Neither was aware that the other was aboard the ship that they were fighting, or even that they were on opposite sides of the same dangerous line of work, and both wanted to hurry up and win so that they could make the date.]] In the end, Jim shows up on time, and when Hanyou doesn't, he thinks that he's been stood up.
29* In ''Anime/RomeoXJuliet'', Romeo was supposed to take his arranged girlfriend Hermione out for Lovers's Day. He spots Juliet and, since they're already in love with each other but can't exactly own up to it [[FeudingFamilies for obvious reasons]], he first chases after her and then gives her TheBigDamnKiss to let their feelings officially be known. In the meantime, poor Hermione is left out in the cold, and later [[BigBad Romeo's father Laertes]] gets '''PISSED OFF''' at him.
30* ''Anime/SuitePrettyCure'': On the first day of middle school, Hibiki and Kanade made a promise that they would meet at the gate and enter together. However, Kanade never showed up, and Hibiki later found her leaving with other friends. This started a rivalry between them that continues into the early episodes in the series.
31* ''Anime/TenchiInTokyo'': In the tenth episode, Tenchi agrees to meet up with his prospect girlfriend Sakuya Kumashiro, but Ryoko shows up and they go on an impromptu date. When it's all over and Ryoko goes back home after a great day, Tenchi goes home, passes by the local park... and finds Sakuya, who has been waiting for him around ''five hours'' (thank God she chose a bench in the park instead of a restaurant). She lets Tenchi explain himself and forgives him, but she can't help crying anyway as she explains herself to Tenchi as well. [[spoiler: Since Sakuya is a "shadow" of the BigBad Yuugi, there's some lampshading as Yuugi watches over the whole exchange from above, and when Sakuya starts crying... [[WhatIsThisFeeling Yuugi cries too, much to Yuugi's own shock]].]]
32* In ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'', [[spoiler: Keith/Sky High]] goes through this. [[spoiler: The girl he befriended and fell for was a RobotGirl that he had just destroyed, unaware of such a fight due to her appearance being destroyed previously. Later, he shows up with roses to thank her for her help, unaware that he "killed" her...]]
33* ''Manga/TsurezureChildren'' features this as the last-minute twist to Motoyama and Enomoto's relationship. Motoyama had previously fallen in love with Enomoto, but realized that her romantic attentions were elsewhere (specifically, to a long absent childhood friend from her home town) and she only saw him as a friend. She was supposed to meet up with him one day, but despite her waiting for him he was never able to do the same. It's at this moment when Motoyama decides to throw out all decorum and ask her out on a date.
34* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': A non-romantic version happened where Jonouchi/Joey promised his sister Shizuka and mother to visit. He took a shortcut to be sure to make it in time, but was assaulted.
35* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': One manga-only story involved a girl who had made plans to meet with her boyfriend on Christmas Eve, but then became ill and died. Unable to move on to the afterlife, she waited at the spot they had chosen to meet, and he finally shows up, [[spoiler: only to greet a new girlfriend. Turns out he was the kind of guy who would deliberately keep her waiting, taking advantage of the fact that she was always patient with him no matter how long the wait was. The day that she died, he'd made a bet with a buddy that she'd willingly wait ''five hours'' for him, and he was irritated when "she didn't show."]]
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39* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim Drake has a lot of trouble keeping relationships due to being busy with his work as Robin when he's supposed to be on dates. His unintentionally standing up Ariana and Zoanne (and falling asleep while they're talking to him) is a major part of why both of those relationships fail. He doesn't have this trouble with Stephanie since as a costumed crime fighter herself she understands.
40* ''ComicBook/BatmanUrbanLegends'': Tim and Bernard have an ice-skating date planned which Tim thought he'd be able to slip away to, but he ends up in Bludhaven as Robin and unable to make it. He calls Bernard and explains it as a family emergency coming up and talks to him on the phone for a while as Bernard skates, calling just in time for Bernard to not feel entirely stood up and forgotten.
41* {{Inverted|Trope}} in an issue of ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' in which Peter Parker is (unintentionally) stood up by Mary Jane Watson after spending the day trying to remember where he agreed to meet her. Of course, Peter has had to ditch a fair number of dates while trying to save the day.
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44[[folder:Fanfiction]]
45* In ''Fanfic/ExtremelyNaughty'', Chloe is stood up by Adrien in the [[HighSchoolDance Masquerade Ball]] so that he could be with Marinette as Chat Noir. They end up being voted prom king and prom queen.
46* In ''[[Franchise/{{Naruto}} The Mating Frenzy]]'', Naruto is given a letter "from Hinata" (long story) inviting him for sex. He doesn't know where she lives, and, being Naruto, doesn't think to check the return address. [[spoiler:[[DontExplainTheJoke She has a huge crush on him.]]]] She gets stood up. [[spoiler:[[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale She rapes him in his sleep.]]]] It's a long story.
47* In ''A Rose And A Thorn'', Amy is stood up by Sonic in the first chapter. She meets Shadow while she's walking home in the rain, and they end up having sex at her place.
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50[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
51* In ''Film/Batman1989'', Vicki Vale thinks that Bruce Wayne stood her up for dinner at the museum. In reality, Joker had set it up. After Joker gasses the other patrons and trashes the museum, he menaces Vicki for a while until Batman shows up and rescues her.
52* ''Film/CastAway'': Chuck is missing for so long that his fiancée has him declared legally dead. When he finally returns, she has married another man.... though not quite moved on.
53* In ''Film/{{Flubber}}'', Creator/RobinWilliams plays an [[AbsentMindedProfessor extremely absentminded]] well-intentioned MadScientist character. How absentminded? Near the beginning of the movie he misses his own wedding, and his girlfriend breaks up with him, because this is the third time he's done it.
54* In ''Film/GhostRider2007'', this happens ''twice''!
55** The first time, Johnny Blaze and Roxanne plan to run away together to avoid her father breaking them up. But Johnny's father dies as a side-effect of a DealWithTheDevil, and Johnny, realizing what his life will become, rolls on past her without ever stopping to explain. Roxanne understands; she thinks it's just because he watched his father die and couldn't handle anything emotional at that time.
56** The second occasion is years later. Johnny has seen Roxanne reporting on one of his stunt shows. He risks life and limb and stops traffic to get her to agree to a date with him. She grudgingly agrees. Unfortunately, the night of their date is the night Satan decides to call in his marker. Johnny is forced to become Ghost Rider and fight Satan's enemies. Roxanne drinks an entire bottle of wine while she waits; and the waiter does nothing to reassure her. The next morning, when Johnny explains to Roxanne what happened, she tells him she can either believe he believes what he's saying and have him committed or accept that he's so messed up he'd rather make up a crazy story than be honest with her.
57* ''Film/GoodFellas''. Henry Hill stands up his future wife Karen on a second date. He was only invited to PairTheSpares the first time, and barely paid attention to her. When she turns up at his place and starts ripping into him for standing her up, Henry starts getting interested, and invites her out properly.
58* In ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Harry flirts with a [[CanonForeigner random Muggle waitress]], whom he's forced to stand up when Dumbledore arrives just before their date. She's never seen again. Creator/RogerEbert took a liking to this incidental character and expressed his hope that they could fit her into the next movie somehow.
59* In ''Film/TheHeiress'', main character Catherine Sloper gets stood up by her fiancé Morris Townsend, who had promised to come for her in a carriage to elope at midnight. This is even worse because the decision to elope came right after a major falling out with her family (her father was convinced that Morris was just a GoldDigger and told her the only reason anyone would want a PlainJane ShrinkingViolet her was because of her money) and she was convinced that Morris would care for her and love her in a way her father never did. Watching her break out in tears after the clock strikes 12 is truly heartbreaking.
60* ''Film/JumpinJackFlash'': Terri has risked life and limb to help trapped spy Jack get out of Eastern Europe alive. When Jack says he can't possibly repay her, Terri tells him she'll settle for a fancy dinner. She arrives, all dressed up because she's developed a crush on Jack. But he doesn't show. A sympathetic waitstaff permits Terri to wait. Jack's buddy and co-worker Peter arrives to tell Terri Jack has been detained. He offers to pay for her breadsticks and water, but Terri refuses because it makes her feel like a prostitute. Jack's good reason turns out to be that he had an audience with The Queen of England to thank him for his diligent efforts. Terri is unwilling to forgive him until she realizes he's made good on showing up in person.
61* In ''The Lake House'', there's the very special case of [[spoiler:Kate actually telling Alex not to come]], but she doesn't know it because [[spoiler:time travel is involved]].
62* ''Last Chance Harvey'': Turns out the poor guy was in the hospital for a preexisting condition and extremely upset about it. He got quite cranky with the doctors.
63* Creator/MichelangeloAntonioni's ''Film/LEclisse'': '''Neither''' of the protagonists shows up, and it is implied that the meeting where they'd arranged for the failed date (mere hours before!) was their very last encounter.
64* There's a particularly bizarre version in ''Film/TheSixthSense'', and when Malcolm shows up all apologies, his wife simply mutters "Happy anniversary", otherwise ignoring him. There's a [[DeadAllAlong reason,]] [[ItWasHisSled of course...]]
65* ''Film/SkyHigh2005'': Will realizes he's started mistreating his original group of friends when his powers manifest and he's moved from SideKick to Hero. By way of making it up to childhood friend Layla, he invites her out for Chinese food. This is doubly significant because Layla has romantic feelings for Will, and Will hates Chinese food, but knows Layla loves it; so Will's truly trying to prove how sincerely sorry he is. Unfortunately, the AlphaBitch, Gwen, puts the moves on Will that afternoon and evening and he completely forgets about having promised to meet Layla for dinner. Layla is left to lean on the shoulder of busboy Warren Peace. On remembering, Will feels like a JerkAss, and Layla is understandably furious.
66* ''Film/SoClose'' has a tearjerking, female-to-male example. Lynn and Yen plan to go out for the first time at a restaurant. However, Lynn stands up to and does not notify him at all, because she has been killed by the villains. There is even a scene where Lynn's sister, Sue, attempts to tell him the news. She manages to reach the restaurant, but ultimately decides that she can't break his heart and bolts out. In the ending of the film, it is shown that [[IWillWaitForYou Yen is still waiting for Lynn at the same restaurant]].
67* Subverted with a side of OneDialogueTwoConversations in ''Film/YouveGotMail''.
68** To clarify: He shows up, and realizes that if he walks in she'll reconginze him as the guy who's putting her out of business. So instead he walks in and talks to her as if she got stood up, and he just saw her through the window.
69** Of course, this is directly lifted from ''Film/TheShopAroundTheCorner'', the remake of which is the film under discussion.
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73* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Leafpool accidentally does this to Crowfeather -- she'd promised to meet him, but then had to come desperately to [=RiverClan=]'s aid when Mothwing could not heal them alone.
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76[[folder:Live Action TV]]
77* ''Series/{{Alias}}'': Not actually romantic -- [[{{Squick}} or at least, we hope not]] -- but in an early episode, after Sydney finds out what her father Jack does for a living (he's a spy, like her), the two of them make a dinner date for the first time in many, many years. You see her waiting... and then he pulls up outside, outside her field of vision. You think, just for a second, that he's going to join her... and then he pulls out his phone and says he's working late. She accepts this quietly, then almost breaks down once he hangs up because she knows he's lying to her.
78* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had a rare female on male version. Lindsay had agreed to meet Danny for dinner but stood him up because she wanted to deal with her past trauma on her own before going anywhere with a relationship. Things worked out eventually and now they're a HappilyMarried OfficialCouple.
79* ''Series/FreshMeat'': Josie gets stood up for a blind date in episode 1x3. Because, as it turns out, the guy's dead. Before she finds out, she's offended, then later she claims they "had a connection" despite having never met.
80* Played with in an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}''. Ross is waiting on a blind date who doesn't seem to be showing up (because Joey, who originally set them up, had cancelled her as part of a scheme to get Ross and Rachel back together). The waiter seems amused at first (he asks if Ross thinks the date turned up, saw him, then left) but later seems sympathetic and offers him a free appetiser. It turns out that the waiters have a pool on how long it will take for Ross to give up and leave, and the waiter was just trying to keep him there longer.
81** In the credits scene, Ross and Joey ''fake'' this at the same restaurant hoping to score free crab cakes again.
82* ''Series/GreenWing'': At the end of season 2, Mac is supposed to meet Caroline at a train station, but at the last minute learns that he has terminal brain cancer, causing him to freak out and leave town without telling anyone. Caroline is left alone at the station until Guy, the third part of their LoveTriangle, shows up. In the series finale, Mac returns to find Guy and Caroline are engaged, but after he's revealed that he's dying, he's the one who ends up marrying Caroline, with Guy's blessing.
83* ''Series/HomeAndAway'': Nicole accidentally stands Liam up when her phone is broken thanks to a water fight.
84* ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}'' has one in Season 2. Lucifer arranges for a dinner with Chloe in a fancy restaurant in return for her saving Lux. However, upon having a LoveEpiphany (as he initially thought that this was a platonic thing), Lucifer [[HeroicBSOD freaks out so much]] that he ends up missing out the dinner and ignoring Chloe's text messages. He makes up for this in the next episode.
85* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': In a rare male example, Hal is stood up on his anniversary dinner, because Lois is attempting to find out which of her sons ruined the dress she was going to wear to said dinner. Hal ends up having a good time. At the end of the episode it is revealed that [[spoiler:Hal burned the dress accidentally]].
86* ''Series/TheNanny'': [[spoiler:Maxwell Sheffield]] never shows up for his date with Fran because he got mugged, beaten up, and knocked unconscious on his way there; Fran figures something's wrong and goes out to find him. She finds him in an alley, and everything ends well after [[spoiler: he proposes to her, even though the muggers stole the engagement ring he was going to give her]].
87* ''Series/NowAndAgain'': Combination of 3 and 4. Michael's handler wants him to break off contact with his wife, who believes her husband to be dead and thinks Michael is someone else (long story). When she asks Michael to dinner, the handler forces him to accept the invitation and then stand her up so she won't want anything to do with him.
88* ''Series/SchittsCreek'': Stevie and David travel to a hotel where she's supposed to meet Emir, but he never shows so they get shots and do karaoke. Emir eventually shows up, having been in a fender bender and mixed up his phone with the teenager who hit him, and he takes Stevie to dinner.
89* Occurred on Season 1 of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. J.D was meant to meet his girlfriend at a restaurant, but was on a roll at the hospital and either forgot about it, or put his job first (he claimed to have forgotten, but Dr. Cox pointed out he was continually checking his watch). His girlfriend was not happy.
90* ''Series/UglyBetty'': Happened to the titular Betty on her birthday on the episode "24 Candles".
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93[[folder:Music]]
94* In "Annie Waits" by Ben Folds, the titular character has been stood up.
95* Music/JethroTull's "Bad Eyed And Loveless", from their album ''Too Old To Rock And Roll, Too Young To Die''.
96* ''Film/Batman1989'' has the song that played during the casino scene. The lyrics are never heard in the movie, but they're from Bruce Wayne's point of view, where he regretfully admits he loves Vicki Vale, but his sense of duty to protect Gotham as Batman always wins.
97-->''This is where I want to be / I am what she wants to see''\
98''Never known a love so sweet... But still I keep Vicki waiting''
99* The Music/LedZeppelin song "Fool in the Rain" plays with this trope. The narrator spends most of the song wondering where his date is, only to realize in the last verse that he is the one standing her up.
100--> ''I'm just a fool waiting on the wrong block.''
101* George Strait's song "Heart Like Hers": The girl's man repeatedly stands her up. The irony is that there's a love triangle going on where George's persona is in love with the girl, who's in love with the guy who keeps on standing her up!
102* "I Hate Myself For Loving You" by Music/JoanJett and The Blackhearts mentions the subject of the song standing Joan up on a date:
103-->''Midnight, gettin' uptight, where are you?''\
104''Said you'd meet me, now it's quarter to two.''
105* The song "Misunderstanding" by British band Genesis.
106* Offspring references it in "Self-Esteem" their song about a guy being treated like an appliance by his so called girlfriend.
107-->''We make plans to go out at night / I wait 'til 2 then I turn out the light''
108* The music video for Smash Mouth's "Waste": the guy doesn't show because he's been beat up by the mob and stuck in the restaurant freezer. The girl winds up leaving the restaurant while he falls into despair.
109* "When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back," a mournful ballad written by Steve Clark and Johnny MacRae and made most famous by Confederate Railroad. The song – itself a first-person bittersweet reflection on a life of burned bridges that can't be rebuilt – fits the trope with the second verse, when the song's main protagonist, a troublesome drifter, tries to settle down with a sweet young woman; the two are later engaged to be married, and the joy gets even better when she's expecting. However, things come crashing down on the girl when he fails to show for the wedding ceremony ("''I left her standing at the altar/With a baby on the way''"). The protagonist perhaps getting cold feet at the last second or possibly never intending to follow through with his commitment, if not both.
110** The song itself is a prime example of Confederate Railroad's adeptness at performing Christian-themed ballads and good-time southern rock.
111* "A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation)," made most famous by Marty Robbins. The ultimate song of teen heartbreak and rejection, the young protagonist bemoans the fact that he had meticulously planned his prom-night date with the most desirable girl in school, bought a tuxedo and a carnation corsage for his date ... only to learn at the very last second – when he goes to her house to pick her up for the big date – that she had gone to the prom with another boy. She had changed her mind and neglected to tell the protagonist (her original date). "A White Sport Coat ... " (referenced years later in Music/DonMcLean's "Music/AmericanPie") was a huge country and pop smash in 1957, spending seven weeks atop the Billboard country charts and reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Top 100.
112* Music/TaylorSwift's "The Moment I Knew" from ''Music/Red2012'' is about the narrator realizing her boyfriend no longer cares about her when he blows her off with no explanation, ''[[ABirthdayNotABreak at her own birthday party]]''. The narrator tries to keep it together for her friends and family's sake, but eventually starts crying and can't enjoy herself. The same incident is also recounted in the 10-minute version of "Music/AllTooWell," which describes the narrator watching the door all night hoping her boyfriend would change his mind and show up after all.
113-->It's supposed to be fun,\
114turning twenty-one.
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117[[folder:Theater]]
118* ''Theatre/AvenueQ'': Happens to Kate Monster on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.
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121[[folder:Video Games]]
122* ''Dinner Date'' is all about hearing the thoughts of Julian, who's been stood up. [[spoiler: It's never explained why the woman doesn't turn up but after a couple of hours of waiting Julian gives up and goes out to see his friends]].
123* ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'': If the protagonist takes Dennis up on his offer to help him seduce Ms. Walsh, he has the option of leaving before his teacher shows up to the date.
124* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'': Gender-flipped when Aveline chickens out at the last minute and leaves Hawke to occupy Donnick until he gets bored and leaves.
125* In ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'': KYO game, Kyo gets stood up twice by his girlfriend Yuki. The first time, it's because [[spoiler: Chizuru asked Yuki to not show up and then play along with Kyo's belief that she has been kidnapped, as a SecretTestOfCharacter for him.]] The second is much more serious, [[spoiler: since Yuki now ''has been kidnapped for real'' by the New Face Team, who want to make her a HumanSacrifice.]]
126* ''VisualNovel/MagicalDiary'': The PlayerCharacter may end up standing up several love interests, intentionally or not. On your first 'date' with Damien, you have the option to ditch him and stay home to support a friend with family troubles instead. He takes it surprisingly well, telling you that he unexpectedly couldn't make it either. [[spoiler: Which is a lie. He's checking to see what the PC will do. If she keeps standing him up after that, he gets PISSED.]] Later in the game, you may end up missing your date with any other character if you were treasurer and [[spoiler: unexpectedly got married]] -- most of them don't take it well.
127* ''VisualNovel/OneNightStand'': This happens to Robin, who attempts to meet a guy over a dating app. This is also where the player character swings in, helping her as she feels down after being stood up.
128* ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheBlackKnight'': After the credits, it's shown that Sonic's adventure in Arthurian times has apparently sidetracked him from going on a date with Amy, as she then chews him out for making the lamest excuse ever and draws her signature [[CarryABigStick Piko-Piko Hammer]], to which Sonic runs away, with Amy chasing after him.
129* In ''VisualNovel/TrueLoveJunaiMonogatari'', the PlayerCharacter can pull this on the girls after they ask him for dates. Obviously, they'll get pretty upset at him -- this is especially true for [[spoiler:Miyuki Tanaka]], since ditching her means the chance to date her is now [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost for the rest of the game]].
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132[[folder:Webcomics]]
133* In ''Webcomic/AtomicLaundromat'' Angela thinks she was stood up by [[InvisibilityWithDrawbacks Admiral Invisible]]. Only he also had laryngitis that night; a rather unfortunate malady if you [[PowerIncontinence can't turn off your invisibility]].
134* ''Webcomic/JoeVsElanSchool'': Joe and Sofi make plans to meet up with Joe's old friend Gino at a restaurant during their last night visiting New York City, but Gino stands them up with no notification. Two days later, Gino calls Joe and apologizes, offering the excuse that he'd been stressed over some legal charges; Joe notes that he doesn't understand why this meant Gino had to completely stand them up.
135* ''[[http://www.kismetropolis.com Kismetropolis]]'': Forsythe is desperately '[[http://www.kismetropolis.com/view.php?date=2006-01-27 ''trying'' to make his date]] with Jamie, but he is thwarted by an old lady, and a gang fight [started by demons]. Jamie, however, is willing to be forgiving even before he tries to give his good reason.
136** Another occurs as Azaria is stood up for her meet-the-online-boyfriend-in-person-for-the-first-time Valentine's Day Date. But he has a good reason. She's just a little too upset to hear him out...
137* In ''Webcomic/{{Megatokyo}}'', Piro forgets both of Sonoda Yuki's first two art lessons, which are NotADate, [[ObliviousToLove from his perspective]], but she [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend subconsciously]] [[AllLoveIsUnrequited wishes they were]].
138* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', when Wil breaks his arm, he [[{{Determinator}} shows up anyway]] because [[http://questionablecontent.net./view.php?comic=1255 a gentleman never stands a lady up]].
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142* In Act III of ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', Penny waits at the laundromat with a second cup of frozen yogurt to share with Billy. Presumably it's a Saturday, given Billy's stated observation of and familiarity with Penny's pattern, and Penny's having said the shelter can open on Monday. He's plotting against Captain Hammer as Dr. Horrible, so he has no idea she was waiting for him, and might even have picked him.
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145[[folder:Western Animation]]
146* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'': Alfred classily turns up to apologize to the young woman he cajoled Bruce into making an online date with in one episode.
147* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': Terry is constantly doing this to his girlfriend, Dana, in lieu of a Gotham City crime. This happens so much throughout the series that Dana even breaks up with Terry once or twice, only for them to be back together by the start of the next episode. At one point, her breaking up with him due to his constant standing up allows for Terry to [[DatingCatwoman Date Catwoman]].
148* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has an honorable mention. Sam takes an overshadowed Tucker on an invite to the dance because Valerie stood him up. But we don't see the waiting... and the standing up may not have happened either, as it was Danny telling Sam the stand up happened. Which, really, would make it a stand up in Valerie's case.
149** There is also a literal example when it comes to Ember. [[WordOfGod According to the show's creators]] she was an unpopular and lonely girl who got asked out by a boy she liked. [[ImplausibleDeniability She waited all night and told herself that he was just running late.]] When she got home and fell asleep, she was much too tired to notice the fire that broke out in her home and she died. This revelation gives her song a whole new meaning and explains the presence of fire in her overall look and stage name. Given that she's a ghost, he'd better hope he stays alive a good long time.
150* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Late Philip J. Fry" has Fry oversleeping his lunch date with Leela. He promises to make it up to her at dinner, which she doesn't expect to go much better. Sure enough, he fails to show up for dinner, and Leela assumes he went to a party (which she learns supposedly blew up). [[spoiler:Fry was actually late/missing because the Professor forced him into testing a forwards-only time machine, which ended up going thousands of years into the future instead of one minute. Eventually subverted, when after cycling through the universe twice, Fry apologizes to Leela for being late, only for her to tell him that he was on time.]]
151* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In one episode, Cat Noir invites Ladybug to dinner after patrol, but she tells him she already has plans with friends and probably won't make it. Meanwhile, Marinette's plans are to meet up with some friends -- including Adrien -- for some romantic ice cream, only for his father to forbid him from going out at the last minute. Ladybug (aka Marinette) fails to meet up with Cat Noir because she was trying to meet Adrien, while Adrien (aka Cat Noir) fails to meet up with Marinette because he was trying to meet up with Ladybug. [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle Pretty much the essence of the Love Square.]] While Adrien is forgiven for bailing on his friends (his father letting him go out is always iffy), this incident is repeatedly referred to as "the time Ladybug stood [him] up." [[DoubleStandard Pretty much the essence of the Love Square....]]
152* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Edric and Emira are seen at the school dance in "Enchanting Grom Fight" without a date, and WordOfGod says that both were stood up. Also doubles as LaserGuidedKarma for bullying their little sister, since she gets to spend the whole night with her crush.
153* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': One episode has Bart doing this to his teacher Miss Krabappel as a culmination of a prank where he wrote her love letters under a fake name. When he feels guilty and confesses to Marge, she advises him to write a final letter making it look like an unavoidable parting kind of situation.
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157* A case of this finally alerted the British government to the dangers of green wallpaper. Queen Victoria had a meeting with a diplomat, who didn't show. Naturally, she demanded that someone go to his room (which had fashionable green wallpaper) to fetch him whereupon it was discovered that the diplomat was seriously ill. After this, doctors' warnings about arsenic in the wallpaper could no longer be ignored.
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