“I’m sorry, we don’t like magic.”
“We’re busy chatting.”
“No thanks, we’re just here to enjoy a quick meal.”
“These cheese fries taste too good for me to be distracted by card tricks.”

It’s doesn’t happen often, but you will certainly hear one or two of those statements at some point in your career. Chances are that it will probably happen even less if you follow Luke’s advice in his recent Would you like magic with that? post, but whatever precautions you take and however good you are at introductions, at some point someone will reject your offer to perform for them.

I want to take a few minutes to discuss what to do when this happens. If you’re an experienced professional, you probably already have your own way of handling the situation, but if you’re new to this area, I thought a few tips might come in useful.

Firstly, always accept that their reason is genuine and never try to argue your point across. Sometimes people don’t want to see magic and depending on the establishment, they may have come to the restaurant for a particular reason, such as to discuss something important with their partner. The last thing you want to do is intrude on a business meeting or on a couple in the middle of a break-up (unless you’re single and after a rebound girl, of course).

There is an exception to this and that’s when you suspect that the people on the table think they have to pay for your performance. I recommend using one of two ways to handle this; either say something along the lines of, “No worries - I’m sorry to disturb you. If you do decide you want to see me perform later, just ask your waitress to grab me – the performance is complimentary and is courtesy of the restaurant.” The second way is to ask their server to mention that they can call you to their table gratis. If you use the first option, it’s worth noting my choice of words – I never use the word “free” as I think it sounds very tacky.

I’ve frequently heard other magicians advise that if you get rejected from a table, move onto the next and make the other table realise what they’re missing. I disagree with this approach: if someone has a genuine reason for not wanting you to perform, move on and give them the peace and quite they’ve asked for. With that said, there is a scenario that moving to the next table can be useful: if you sense that the table doesn’t want to see your performance for a particular reason (such as they think that you might embarrass them). In this situation, you could go to the next table and subtly show that you don’t embarrass anyone, and if the other table start watching your performance, include them in the proceedings too.

Finally, it’s important to note that you should never be offended or take it personally when someone rejects your offer to perform for them. Not everyone likes magic and remember that 99.99% of the time, their reason will be genuine and will not be a reflection on you.

Hey guys it’s me Luke, yippee! With Andi and Tyler doing most of the posting lately I didn’t want to ‘clog’ the place up with my posts but now it’s time for a new one, so here ya go! As a magical restaurant performer one thing really bugs me about what other people choose to do. This is strictly my opinion on this particular subject but this is a place to rant so let the ranting begin!

What we’ll be talking about is whether or not it’s okay to use magic as an introduction in a restaurant setting. If you were to ask me if I thought this was okay I’d give you a quick snappy answer like no. Now before you wonder why please allow me to explain. People that go out to eat are not generally there to see us perform the ambitious card, coins across or better yet making their damn bill disappear. What they do want is to have a big juicy steak, a nice adult beverage and maybe some world famous Andi Gladwin cheese fries. This alone is the reason I think it’s bad to just walk up to someone and ask, “Hey dude is this your white knife?” and then blammo jump into a full blown tableside act.

Even though we don’t own the restaurant we are still there to help make sure people enjoy their stay, come back to eat there again and more importantly not piss them off! This is just common sense and I am baffled at how many people choose to laugh in the face of this so called common sense. I would find it insulting if someone came up to me and started to juggle in my face and then just kept going on and on. We have bad enough stereotypes from the general public about us so we should be kissing as much ass as we can to get people on our side. I’m not saying that what we do isn’t worthwhile but let’s be honest, we are definitely not a necessity.

You might be curious what I do so here’s a brief rundown on how I handle these situations.

#1- I approach the table with a smile and ask if everyone is having a good time and if everything is satisfactory. (I like this approach because if they aren’t having a good time or just get their kicks being rude they never have to know I’m a magician and I can just walk away to get someone that can fix their problems)

#2- If they are the kind of people I want to perform for I’ll introduce myself officially with my name and tell them what I do at the restaurant. (Something funny about this, because of your attire some people actually think you own the joint or you are one of the managers. I find it is important to let them know during this introduction that you are a paid performer so they never have to wonder who you are and if you are working for tips)

Allowing the spectators a choice often wins the ‘battle’ right then and there and helps to get them on your side because they see you as a nice genuine person that cares about their needs first. I feel it’s the small things like this that help us all out in the longrun.

Clog on!

Luke