The common phrase that warns restaurant staff you’re going to be ‘hard work’

If you’re this person, please stop… (Picture: Getty Images) There are plenty of phrases hospitality workers hear from customers that are guaranteed to make a shift all the more difficult. But one in particular really annoys them. Restaurant employees say that when a customer asks, ‘Could you work your magic for me?’ it almost always indicates unrealistic expectations. This phrase shows staff they’re about to be put through their paces as — despite what the punter may think — servers don’t have Harry Potter-style wands hidden beneath the bar. And, unlike Dynamo or Derren Brown, most restaurant workers aren’t actually capable of performing miracles. A recent Reddit thread asked users the ‘one phrase or action’ from a customer that makes them ‘instantly think “that person is going to be hard work?”. No restaurant worker is able to perform ‘magic’, that’s also not in their job description (Picture: Getty Images) Some of the responses included stereotypical lines such as ‘I’m not one to complain, but…’ or ‘can you check in the back?’. But it was this innocent (at least to some) question that seemed to grind employees’ gears the most. So, why is this ‘request’ so annoying? The user who penned the post, @ohsaycanyourock, exclaimed that when a member of staff is given a request with ‘zero notice’, there’s almost always no magical solution. Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. ‘It’s planning and preparation and I can see straight through the wheedling “so sorry to do this to you” tone,’ they said. Commenter @murrayflew responded: ‘I feel this so deeply’. While some requests are totally valid, others put staff in an extremely difficult (and impossible) position (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto) Just six months ago, another Redditor complained about the same phrase in another customer service subreddit. While working in a library, @suspicioussquash, says she’s frequently had to explain to customers that not only is she ‘not capable of magic’, but that she’s also ill-equipped to make something ‘appear from thin air’. And ex-hospitality worker, Filipa Castro, 28, can relate. She tells Metro: ‘I worked in a café for five years in Cambridge, and if someone, for example, asked to change a recipe that had already been prepared that morning, obviously there wouldn’t be any way to remove whatever ingredient they didn’t like. ‘There’s no magic that can fix that. ‘And it becomes annoying if I’ve explained that to them and they still continue pushing for it — it’s like talking to a wall’. However, she stresses that this isn’t necessarily the case, adding: ‘If it’s a small thing that we don’t usually do or allow, and the customer is genuinely nice and it’s a quiet day, then I really didn’t mind. ‘It depends on what we have control over and how the customer treats us. ‘If they’re entitled and condescending, well, then it becomes the easiest “no” I’ve ever said.’ The service you get largely revolves around how respectful you are to your waiter (Picture: Getty Images) The toll of being asked to perform magic While this might not appear to be the most aggressive or dramatic example of bad behaviour, recent research has emphasised just how damaging the ‘customer is always right’ mentality can be. In 2022, an academic survey of 12,236 employees found rude customer behaviour resulted in staff feeling emotionally exhausted and burnt out. Given employees only have so much control, regularly asking them to perform impossible tasks is highly unhelpful and can sometimes escalate into intimidating or aggressive behaviour. So, unless the next waiter you encounter happens to be wearing a cape and holding a wand, perhaps try to avoid requesting any ‘magic tricks’ from them. Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk Arrow MORE: ‘Haunted’ pub home to ’18th-century ghost’ up for sale at auction Arrow MORE: Full list of all 195 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants closed this week Arrow MORE: Full list of all Beefeater restaurants shutting today The Diaspora Dish Join the family and sign up to The Diaspora Dish newsletter – series two is on its way and it's coming in hot! New recipes, new chef interviews.