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OK - so I was doing a gig on Saturday and had just changed a normal looking 40 something year old guy's £10 in to a £50 when, without any warning, he snatched the £50 and the TT off me. The TT went flying across the room and the £50 went into his pocket.

He then point blank refused to give me the £50 back and walked off. I then proceeded to look like a very unprofessional idiot repeating that I needed to do the next part of the trick and what felt like begging in front of other punters.

I then cornered him and mentioned that I was a black belt in Judo but wouldn't like to resort to that (in a half joking kind of way) but he still refused to hand it back. After literally 10 minutes or so he did finally give it back but I was fuming.

Aoart from comments such as 'kick him where it hurts' and 'don't stand so close next time' I wondered if anyone had any other useful insights as to how I might better have handled the f**!!@r.

Turn 50£ notes into 10£ notes, and let them go...

the Curator wrote:Change 50£ notes into 10£ notes, and let them go...

That would be my suggestion (in part).

The twit clearly realised that he was on to a winner if he stopped you at the £50 note, and took advantage.

If, however, you'd borrowed a tenner and changed it into a fiver (or a Scottish £1 note (or even better, an old, non-legal, Bank of England £1 note)), you'd have a captive audience for the rest of the routine.

Robert Baxt takes that approach with a mock mentalist routine, where he borrows a banknote from the spectator under the premise of doing psychometry, and every time one of his claims gets a negative response, he tears a piece off the note - effectively training the guy to agree to everything he says, as the assertions become wilder and more absurd. Yes, it's just a torn and restored banknote trick, but it's more fun, and you can bet that at least one audience member has a vested interest in seeing him succeed.

In short, give them a reason to want to see you succeed in what you're doing.

If you turn someone's tenner into a fifty, they've got absolutely no reason to want you to turn it back. And if they're drunks or bullies, they'll take delight in watching you squirm!

Pete

Nothing much more to add to the above.

I would always reduce rather than increase the amount unless you plan to give the increased amount to the spectator.

You could also consider a tazer for those moments when words just will not do.

I used to change the note to a fiver but didn't want to limit people by asking for a 10 or 20. I just wanted to ask for any note & it also didn't get the reaction it gets when you change to a 50. It seems psychologically stronger to change it into a higher denomination (with the added danger of course).

I may have a play around with photocopying and resizing to bill size a lottery ticket instead ??

I agree it is more impressive to appear to increase the amount of money but then you will almost always be open to the kind of idiot you had to deal with.

Perhaps it is simply a case of choosing your helper more carefully. Look for the signs that they might be trouble beforehand and whenever possible choose someone who comes across as genuinely wanting to enjoy the evening. As mentioned in another thread the male mentality of "one-upmanship" is something else to factor in, so perhaps female participants may work better.

Perhaps variations on the same theme could also be used, ie. £10 in to 5 £10 notes, 5 £20 notes etc. Show it to the audiency, participant. Say thank you very much, pocket your "profit" and hand them their original note back.

When you mention that you can turn money into a higher denomination then greed will often take over, even without the specs having hada drink or two which in my opinion does make the situation potentially more difficult to deal with.

However, you can change this greed factor to your advantage and I first came across this on one of Martin Sanderson's Corporate Close Up DVD's.

I offer to change a £10 or £20 into a fifty (but don't say pounds). I have a supply of similarly sized foreign 50 notes and the one of preference for me is 50 Vietenamese Dong, worth around a 10th of a penny. People will line up to be the first to offer you a £10 or £20 thinking that they're going to make money on it.

you can then either return the note with another change or do a bill in lemon/kiwiimmediately afterwards.

pcwells wrote:

the Curator wrote:Change 50£ notes into 10£ notes, and let them go...

That would be my suggestion (in part).

The twit clearly realised that he was on to a winner if he stopped you at the £50 note, and took advantage.

If, however, you'd borrowed a tenner and changed it into a fiver (or a Scottish £1 note (or even better, an old, non-legal, Bank of England £1 note)), you'd have a captive audience for the rest of the routine.

Robert Baxt takes that approach with a mock mentalist routine, where he borrows a banknote from the spectator under the premise of doing psychometry, and every time one of his claims gets a negative response, he tears a piece off the note - effectively training the guy to agree to everything he says, as the assertions become wilder and more absurd. Yes, it's just a torn and restored banknote trick, but it's more fun, and you can bet that at least one audience member has a vested interest in seeing him succeed.

In short, give them a reason to want to see you succeed in what you're doing.

If you turn someone's tenner into a fifty, they've got absolutely no reason to want you to turn it back. And if they're drunks or bullies, they'll take delight in watching you squirm!

Pete

I saw a man called Sergio in covent gardenstake my ten pounds and turn it into one dollar worked fantastically I mean either way it does not matter as it is still shocking to the speck smaller or larger but for you smaller is safer.

I'm pretty sure Daniel Garcia has a trick where he takes a twenty dollar bill and offers to turn it "into a 50", at which point he swaps it for a half dollar.

It could be worth using a fake £50 note (a photocopy that's obviously fake when you look at it close up - being careful not to let them look at it close up!), although I'm not sure how legal that would be

saying that (and agreeing with dat) is that if you're being paid, change a couple of fivers into tenners...and let them keep 'em...it'll be worth it in the long run...

Normally I agree that you shouldn't go out to make a fool of the guy. But with jerks like that, I'd say if your doing it. Turn his ten into a dollar or into monopoly money. That outta to show him, He can go run off with the fake money while you have his real money.

dat8962 wrote:People will line up to be the first to offer you a £10 or £20 ...

Nobody would ever dare to mess with you David! Period!

If you have a bill printer, Kevin, you could change a bill into blank white paper, the size of a bill and then "print" the same value before you return it.

The guy sounds like a complete idiot. Im guessing drink was involved.
A_N_T mentioned a taser. You should buy the trick "Electic Touch" haha.

When I have someone giving lots of trouble, I usually direct all attention towards another spectator. When it does come round to performing for the trouble maker, I usually perform card in mouth, a trick I know will catch everyone out.

Instead of showing the spectator the card is in your mouth, let them think they are right for a while, in showing them you "messed up". Casually give a wink to the other spectators while the spectator is pondering where it could be.

Don't be bought down to the idiots level.

As for your problem though, that was harsh and is practically theft. You probably handled it the best way posssible.

Hope I helped.

Unfortunately when performing where alcohol is involved you will occasionally run into tw*ts like this. Concerning the actual switch the best advice has already been given - change the bill into a lower denomination first. This approach also has the added benefit of providing the necesary motivation for repeating the effect, which can be hard to justify when using the traditional procedure.