Backlash as Victoria Restaurant Sets Lowest Tip Amount at 35%

Victoria, British Columbia, 2026-04-30—The popular eatery The Queen's Diner in Victoria, BC, is facing backlash after programming its point-of-sales terminals to have a suggested minimum tip amount of 35%.

Patrons were shocked Thursday when, upon using the point-of-sale machine to pay for their meals, they were offered choices of 35%, 50% or 60% for the tip. Marvin McGee, a regular at the diner, said "This is ridiculous! First, 10% was an OK tip. Then 15%. Then 18% and 20%. Where will it end?" McGee was particularly critical of the new point-of-sale machine programming which, if you wish to select a custom tip amount, makes you solve a Sudoku first. "Took me eleven minutes to solve that blasted Sudoku," said McGee, "and the other people waiting to pay were giving me dirty looks."

When asked about the change in tip policy, The Queen's Diner owner Alastair Thornebush III said: "As you know, paying our servers a living wage would cut awfully into my discretionary spending on the yacht, so we have to ask our customers to step up to the plate, so to speak. And, if I may be candid, our projections show that if we set the baseline tip percentage to 80%, we won't have to pay our servers at all. In fact, we might even be able to get them to bid to work here."

The Canadian Restaurant Association was highly critical of Thornebush's new policy. In an email statement sent to Totally True News, the Association said: "We believe in generous tips for good service, but The Queen's Diner's move is beyond the pale. We value all restaurant patrons and insist that the Sudoku be removed."

In a separate email sent to Totally True News, but that was apparently meant to have been sent to Thornebush, the Canadian Restaurant Association wrote: "Alastair, what were you thinking? You know as well as we do that the frog needs to be boiled slowly. You can't hike the temperature suddenly in one go. The Sudoku idea is pretty interesting, though. Well done!"