[steeljack]

seems to me , that the service in restaurants in northern Europe (Germany/Austria/Denmark) is better than the US or the UK , and tipping is not required the reason over there it is seen as a profession ( the staff are paid a decent wage with all benefits) and its not just a temp job until something better comes along ( yep, like you really are an unemployed actor waiting or the big role).

I will add one thing ....Americans are the biggest cry-babies when it comes to illegal aliens/undocumented immigrants but 80% of all eating places are depenant on this labor for back kitchen staff and I don't see many of us complaining about this when we are stuffing our faces

re. note about an earlier post about bag-boys and US supermarkets , not all US supermarkets have this service ,(guess it depends on your Zip/post code and if you don't mind paying the hiked up prices for the service) though most do bag the groceries for you and help senior citizens out to the car.
Most of the bag-boys I see running around the supermarket car parks are usually retriving the shopping carts abandoned next to the parking slots by fat lazy ass shoppers too lazy to return the carts to the slots near the doors