One of my best friends is from a country without tipping. He's well-traveled and has something like 20+ stamps in his passport. He says he loves tipping. I was a little curious so I asked him why, he said in countries without tipping, service is shit. Moreover, the demeanor of everyone involved is shit. He said "you Americans don't know how good you have it". I guess even someone fake being nice to you in expectation of a tip is better than being treated like dirt because you disrupted someone's cigarette break in Paris.
He said the only exception to this is Japan. He says they have, hands down, the best service in the world. Whether you're in a family owned shop out in a rural area or some upscale joint in Roppongi, the people there actually care if you've enjoyed your food (and will nearly be offended if you try and tip them).
Thought his opinion was a bit odd, but I think it might be valid considering his experience and the fact that he's not a naive, anti-establishment 20-something. He's fairly pragmatic and a realist.
Nonsense. In my experience (granted not 20 countries but more than a dozen) the service is at least as variable and often worse in countries where tipping is common. Also, it encourages behaviour that exists only to extract a larger tip.
Just price the goods correctly so that I know when I start the transaction what I am going to pay, then I'm more likely to return to your establishment to enjoy the food and service.
That has also been my observation. However, where the US stands out alone for me in the developed world, is that tipping hasn't just become common in a few isolated situations - like getting something served at the table or getting ones' room cleaned. I can somewhat understand those because you as a customer can judge best how labour intensive / stressful your particular case has been for a low paid worker. But in the US it's everywhere. Why the hell do I have to tip a hairdresser? A taxi driver? A gas station serviceman? They have prices based on workload and materials anyway, so please, why do I have to figure out your correct salary for this interaction based on some arcane percentage system myself? This, at the end, is just what I call unprofessional. If you want to see how professional the service industry can get - as others have pointed out - just visit Japan.
Hmm, from my years in New Zealand, I can't say service was any less good than it is in the U.S.. There were more "pay at the counter and take a number to your table" establishments, but usually that was for classes of restaurant where that model totally made sense (e.g. pubs).
I'm told that Switzerland is a no-tip country, but the service there was excellent the two times I visited Zurich. I left tips anyway, because I didn't think the staff having to put up with my atrocious attempt at speaking German was part of their normal job description.
Why countries besides the US and Japan is he talking about? I live in the US and have received great service everywhere I've gone, including no-tipping countries like China, France, the UK, Spain, Italy, and Greece, so this doesn't fit my observations at all.
Taxis are rubbish in Australia, but you also aren't expected to tip.