World Cup Fans Are Still Refusing to Tip at US Bars, Telling Servers to Make Their Bosses Pay Them a Real Wage Instead

A World Cup group ran up a $300 tab in New York and left a $4 tip. The bartender’s word for it: “really, really disgusting.”

A $300 bar tab in New York ended with a $4 tip, left by a group of international fans who watched Argentina play and then walked out.

Bartender Jessica Ordeñana called it “really, really disgusting,” and she wasn’t alone. At McCarthy’s Pub, waitress Louise Daggett said table after table ran tabs near $700 and left nothing. The fans were “really sweet, loud and happy,” she said, just baffled by the receipt-signing ritual and often asking how it even works.

The clash is cultural, not personal. In much of the UK, Australia, Europe, and Japan, hospitality staff earn a full living wage and service is built into the price, so tipping stays rare. The federal tipped minimum cash wage in the US is still $2.13 an hour, unchanged since 1991, and many servers count on tips to reach a livable income.

Australian fan Chris O’Flynn put the fans’ side plainly to the BBC: “The way most Australians here feel is: Pay your staff a better wage. It should be on the business, not the customer.” England supporter Geoff Pryor said he’ll tip for good service but finds it “weird” when he buys a bottle of water and staff “try to get a tip for doing nothing.”

Restaurants fought back with the receipt. In Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, industry groups pushed temporary 20% automatic gratuities to shield staff during the tournament. Atlanta owner Teneshia Murray Butler raised her auto-gratuity from 18% to 20%: “My servers are everything.”

The friction hit hardest in East and Midwest host cities with low tipped wages, and lighter in Los Angeles, where base pay runs near $16.90 an hour. The 2026 World Cup wraps July 19, and some venues plan to keep the auto-charges on the bill until it does.

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