IME it’s not “no customer service” as much as “less customer service” in many of the non-tip places. The staff checks on you less often and you sometimes have to actively flag them down or end up waiting for quite a while.
For an American who is used to the standard “Drink? —> Order —> Refill —> How’s everything? —> Refill —> Anything else? Dessert? Just the check?” cadence to dining it is strange and may seem like the service is more rude, though I’ve heard from folks unfamiliar with the American style that it’s overbearing, high pressure, and feels like you’re being hustled through the dining process.
If you go through a German hospitality school (yes, actually get some education in customer service), you'll learn the standard there is to give people time to chat and relax, so the delays in interactions in some areas are on purpose.
> The staff checks on you less often and you sometimes have to actively flag them down or end up waiting for quite a while.
What you describe is fairly common in American restaurants where people tip. Between a third to a half of the times I eat out I cannot rely on them checking up on me and I do have to flag them. And waiting is common in about 100% of them.
(And no, I don't think they're doing it only to me because I'm a nasty brat - I've observed this to be normal with the other customers as well).
Good sir, don't believe what you "have heard". Go to Europe and sit down at a Michelin starred restaurant in Italy. Then you will learn what exceptional service means.
My wife and I spent most of 2019 traveling through Europe on a mix of backpacking and remote work, and while there was an adaptation period - American servers interact more with the customer, altho after Europe, it frequently feels pushy and overbearing - the service was, on average, pretty good. Much like in the US, there were places where the service was phenomenal, places where it was average, places where it sucked. There was no common denominator (again, exactly like the US).
This argument always feels weird to me, because most customer-facing jobs in the US aren’t tipped, and most of the people working in them still work hard and try to do a reasonably good job.
Extreme generalisation of 50+ countries, each having own cultural identity and internal/local differences. All from a third party you heard. Are you sure that's information worth spreading / relying on?
(tipping exists in multiple countries in Europe BTW, it's just not that common)
