re: World Cup tourists aren’t leaving tips

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Now I won't round up even if it's only a penny.

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I ask them if they would like to round down to support the Human Fund

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Good. Tipping when just drinking should be minimal anyway.

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Bar owners and investors are going to need to really bit the bullet on profits if that becomes the case. No one wants the high stress of bartending if they're not making good money.

Tipping is an American thing. Nothing like it in most other places in world.

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OK, but explain to us why it should be a sliding scale based on how well I decide to eat? Why can't I just tip $20 on a $200 meal? That seems more than fair for 45 minutes of checking on me 2 or 3 times and refilling my drink once.

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Right, this is what has never made sense. Why is the tip a percentage of the check?

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Many Asian cultures actually see tips as an insult. They see it as a form of charity and you look down on them, or the employer takes it as if they aren't paying a fair wage.

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I’ve never been anywhere in the world where people refused to take my money. Even in non-tipping cultures, staff semi-solicited tips.

International tourists are a 70/30 when it comes to tipping in the USA. In my youth I worked at resorts in various states during the summers.
In the resort towns I split time in now they mostly have a server discretion policy about adding a service charge to bills based on customer demographics.

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In a restaurant. They don’t do that when you go into a bar full of people

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Many places do, and in some places it depends on the customer.

In Miami you can order 2 bottles of water and see a service charge on the bill. Everything in Miami is autograt and they are often deceptive about the process.

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Many Asian cultures actually see tips as an insult. They see it as a form of charity and you look down on them, or the employer takes it as if they aren't paying a fair wage.

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I live here in SE Asia and - while I wouldn't say they take it as an insult- it's for sure not as commonplace here as back home in America.. and many Western expats/retirees living here from countries like Australia and England et al are rightly pissed at Americans for bringing the moronic tipping culture here to the point where many Asian bars and restaurants now expect tips.. Im guilty of it as well; I do feel bad if I dont leave a tip, so I am part of the problem .. however, it's much less expensive to tip here, like yesterday I had noodles and a couple other things for my lunch; the total bill came to like $2.50 usd, and I basically told them to 'keep the change', so a tip of 50 cents, which I could tell the server appreciated .. another expat having lunch with us left a tip of 25 cents .. still I agree that tipping culture is incredibly stupid, and I am of half a mind to 'do my part' and stop tipping here altogether .. im just too much of a pussy to do it .

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Many Asian cultures actually see tips as an insult. They see it as a form of charity and you look down on them, or the employer takes it as if they aren't paying a fair wage.

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I totally understand this. Especially in a shame and honor culture.

I worked for tips in restaurants and as a valet through college. But it’s a flawed concept.

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If America eventually decides to go the European route and mandate minimum wage for server

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I always find this argument point amusing. You do realize that restaurants have to ensure servers at least make minimum wage? So if a waiter gets stiffed all shift the restaurant literally has to pay them minimum wage at the state or federal rate, whichever is higher.