According to Axios, millions of World Cup visitors are discovering one of America's most bewildering cultural exports: mandatory tipping. Many restaurants in host cities are automatically adding twenty percent gratuities to bills this summer, preempting the culture shock for international guests. The situation highlights a peculiarly American practice: servers in the U.S. can legally earn as little as two dollars and thirteen cents per hour, making tips essential to their survival. The system traces back to the Civil War, when it emerged as a way to keep Black workers impoverished after enslavement ended. The human cost is evident: one New York bartender told Axios that a group of foreign fans left just four dollars in tips on a three hundred dollar tab. Research shows tipped workers in states like California and Minnesota, which mandate full minimum wage, have dramatically lower poverty rates than those in states following the federal tipped minimum wage—indicating that wage policy directly impacts worker vulnerability. On the bright side, unionized workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles secured a thirty percent raise through negotiation.

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