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Each month on the Book Corner page a different extract from one of Mark's books will be posted for you to read. The subject matter is varied and always interesting and contains much advice and help.
Here is an example of one of the Book Corner pages already used on this page in the past.....
Keeping The Job
by Dusty
(extracted from The British Close Up Magic Symposium - The First Decade)
The vast majority of articles published on restaurant magic concentrate on how to get work. I would like to see more about the aspect of keeping the job. It seems strange to me that we spend all this time on features highlighting the points needed to get the client interested enough to book you, and then ignore the fact that you are more than just a regular employee. You have a unique role to play and must be seen to be an asset at all times, if you are to be kept on.
If you have gone through the usual spiel about how the restaurant will benefit from your skills and the owner has seen the advantages of having you around, do not make the mistake of imagining that the proprietor now believes he needs a magician! More likely to be the truth is that he has recognised that you will create an attractive diversion to cover for his everyday problems (slow service, missed orders, spilt food etc, etc). He will see you as being potentially useful, but the same could also be said of a strolling musician, mime act etc.
What you have to do is become an invaluable member of a team. When the head waiter is called away and a group of guests arrive, do you ignore them saying to yourself "I’m not here to seat them", or do you ask them to wait in the lounge and assure them that you will have the head waiter show them to their table on his return?
Remember, when a group of people enter the restaurant and ask for assistance, they do not know who you are, so to alienate them at this stage by ignoring them will make it almost impossible to approach them after dinner! Once the other members of staff see that you are more than just a performer they will be on your side when you are not there and the owner asks, as he invariably will, how you are fitting in. You become part of their team in which you are working with the staff, not against them.
You should try to be mindful of what they have to do around the table too. For example, when the waiter brings over the drinks, have you thought to ensure that he can actually put them on the table or do you have props littering every available space? I like to make a feature of his arrival if possible by announcing, tongue-in-cheek, that I have made him appear by magic! It may interrupt the flow of my act for a moment, but it allows the waiter to get into the table and shows the manager that you are not hindering the regular staff in their work.
I am not suggesting for a second that you cultivate the character of a Doc Easton or Tom Mullica. These performers do what they do best in an environment created especially for the role of a bar magician. Yes, of course, they may take drink orders, but someone else serves the customer allowing them to continue in the role of magician. However, the mere fact that you are, or at least should be, dressed in some form of performing attire, as opposed to black trousers, white shirt and black bow tie, should make it immediately obvious to customers that although you are there in some form of working capacity, you are not likely to be just another waiter.
This fact alone instantly differentiates you from the other staff and gives you the opportunity to stand back from the normal hustle and bustle of the restaurant but still be on hand to assist where needed. In all cases the waiting staff will be earning far less per hour than you do, so clearly a distinct line has to be drawn in order to designate your role within the venue. I make it clear to all the staff that I do not work for tips and that any gratuity left by the guests is for them. I explain that my job is primarily to entertain and that hopefully if I do a good job it will increase the chances of them receiving a good tip.
Also, when they realise that my skills can be used to save them from any number of awkward situations, they will be more than happy to recommend me to their diners, and this in turn helps to remove the imaginary barrier that a lot of table hoppers encounter, that of the initial introduction.
So to sum up, I believe that as entertainers we should try to integrate ourselves with the regular staff in such a way that, although clearly there for the purposes of entertaining the guests, we will, nevertheless, do everything possible to make the restaurant run smoothly. We can do this by attention to details such as being aware that waiting staff always approach a diner on his left when serving and on his right when clearing (a useful piece of knowledge as it helps to ensure that you are not unnecessarily in the way), by making sure that all the waiting staff appreciate that you are there to do a job at the table too, and by generally making yourself a valuable and valued member of the restaurant team. Your motto should be "I don’t want the client to see me as just a magician but rather as an ambassador for his venue."
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