Im only 13 years old and i am looking to find a job at a restuarant, but i don't know how to go about doing it. I'm real good at card tricks, but i have lots of coin, levitation, and scam (3 shell game, 3 card monte, etc.) tricks also.
I would like to know what kind of restuarants that i should try to get a job at. I also don't know how to go about getting a job there. Should i talk to the manager, if so what should i say. I would like to try to get $5 an hour, which is cheap, but im only 13. I know i'm to young to have a job, but performing at a restaurant is a little different.

Thank you for your comments-

Bolenski

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Oh my. I don't see any good coming from this.

Sean

go ahead, if you're only asking $5 an hour, you'll be overpaid but what the heck. You know how much your talent is worth.

Lol, ill be constructive. Pick up "Live at the Jailhouse".

,Tyler Kie(hates penguin)

More constructive would be to tell you that you really don't know enough about restaurant magic. Pick up as many books and DVDs as you can on the subject and then decide if you're ready. Here are my thoughts:

1. 13 is WAY too young. Take time to increase your repertoire of effects, and create several routines from them.

2. As stated, you don't even know how to approach a restaurant, so read a few books and watch some DVDs on the subject to learn all about this.

3. Your price is about 10 times lower than it probably should be.

All this information is contained in books like Jim Pace's Restaurant Worker's Handbook and DVDs like Live at the Jailhouse

Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for all of your advice.

But since i'm only 13, i might not even be able to get paid 5$ an hour. I might just work for tips.

That's the whole point. You're too young to be taken seriously. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm being realistic. Wait a few years, practice your magic, expand your repertoire, work on poise and presentation. Then, when you're 16/17/18, you can begin approaching restaurants.

I would much rather have a 30 year or older magician approach my table, then anyone younger than that. I just don't think I could enjoy a kid performing some trick to me. That is just my opinion, wait untill you have been performing magic for 10-20 years before trying to be a serious restaurant worker.

Agreed...at 17, I've done professional shows, but I haven't performed at a restaurant. I think it's a very difficult venue, and not everyone is cut out for it. I do think age is a big part of my not being ready for it. I think a lot of people share magikrn's view.

Agreed... I have been learning the art of magic for roughly 14 years, and only now have I begun to perform at restaurants. I dont even do walk around, the guy hired me to entertian the long line he has on the weekends. So even I am no where near paddys level on restaurant performance.

The first post I wrote I was being sarcastic but now I'll be my usual blunt self.

Every little kid gets a Scotch and Soda or an imp bottle or worse yet, gets both, he then thinks "I am now a magician!!! Now I can go work in restaurants!" It does get a little boring and aggravating at the same time.

Bolenski, Do you have any idea of what it takes to be a restaurant magician? Did you hear a song and suddenly decide "Hey I want to be a musician!" It's the same thing. Yes I work 3 hours a night and yes my income this year will be over $50,000.00 just from restaurants. However it is now 5:00 in the morning, I check out the forums I am on then I have to do my office paperwork, which I'll finish around 9:00. Then the "fun" begins, I'll start rehearsing and practicing new material for my act, when I get the new material done I rehearse the effects I use all the time. At least what I'll use to night. Then at 3:00 PM I'll shower and get into costume (the clothes I will wear at the gig) and start to leave for the gig. At 5:00 PM I start my table hopping until 8:00 PM or if the crowd is good I will run to 9. Just one day in the life of a magician.

Now In between I am always looking for new restaurants, I don't change much but want to be prepared in case. (I have been at my "newest restaurant for 8 months and at the oldest for 9 years.) Also I am doing other venues such as trade and consumer shows and yes I also do kids parties. Remember that as a working entertainer you work 7 days a week and the last vacation I had was one week off in 2005.

This does not even bring up the taxes you have to pay and the proof to the government that your income was really what you claimed and you really are not evading paying taxes.

Well as we say Mazel und Bracha.

Paddy is right. Being a professional magician is much harder then it seems. The work is crazy. And you have to be ready to be rejected. Especially when you first start off. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten rejected. And it really does start to suck. But it's something that will happen, and you have to get used to it. And you have to remember, you're running a business. You aren't just doing magic a couple hours a day, you are working at least an 8 hour a day job, if not more. And the work never stops.

At 13, I can guarantee you aren't ready for restaurant magic. One, you are by far way to young. What would you do when a drunk guy comes up to you and demands that you perform for his girlfriend, yet you are in the middle of performing at another table? What if you are performing for a lady, and she decides to just breast feed right there? Here's an easier one, what are you going to do when you are performing for someone, and they get a call in the middle of your routine?

You have no idea what you're even trying to get into. I've been doing restaurant magic for a little over a year, and I'm still learning stuff (for instance, paddy just taught me something a couple days ago about not actually being an employee of the restaurant you're working at). You need to get resources on the subject. Kirk Charles (if you can find him), Jim Pace, and Peter Lansing all have books on this subject. Plus, there is Live at the Jailhouse. And you need as many as you can get.

So, don't even try yet. You won't have the maturity, you don't have the knowledge, and you are by far, way to young.

Dude, i hate scotch and soda, in fact, i dont even have that trick.

Thanx for your critisism, but im not just a little kid who thinks i can do magic, im not saying im great, but im not terrible at magic.

I probably am too young to be a magician in a retaurant... so that brings me to another question.

Is there anything that i can do (other than birthday parties) to practice and hone my skills while aquiring a little profit as well?

You don't do shows to practice your skills. That will get you a bad reputation.