I get a tip popup at the checkout register for my local frozen yogurt place, where the cashier just watches me put my yogurt on a scale and tells me how much it costs.
Many of the very best restaurants in the country have fixed gratuity and still have absolutely extraordinary service.
And when the service is relatively bad, ie too slow to come probably because they didn't have enough personnel in the kitchen this particular night (happenned to me yesterday), i don't tip, AND i don't feel bad for the waitress who isn't responsible for the lack of professionnal cook, because they are paid correctly.
What country are you referring to? Tipping is considered rude in Japan and the service there is almost always better than the service I get in the US for a comparable job.
Some how the country hasn't collapsed and all the hotels, restaurants, bars, etc continue to operate just fine and with good service.
I live in Japan, and this depends completely on your perspective and expectations.
The OP would disagree with you.
In the US, it's normal to have a server hovering around your table, and frequently "checking up" on you to see if you need anything. They frequently will interrupt your conversation to ask you if you're OK. Some people would find this annoying, but Americans like the OP love this kind of service.
In Japan, no one is going to come around to your table to see how you're doing, or to take your order. You need to flag them down: raising your hand, pressing a button on the table, yelling "sumimasen!" etc are all pretty normal.
Also, in Japan the service is extremely professional and courteous. The server will not tell you how their day is going or anything else about their life. Americans don't like this: they want the server to act like their best friend and chit-chat with them for several minutes. Japanese servers will never do this: they take your order and then go do other work.
Overall, the amount of service in a typical Japanese is much less than in America. It's one of the reasons it costs less to eat here. Instead of a huge waitstaff standing around ready to attend to customers, there might be just one server in the whole restaurant, and he also mans the cash register, and does various other things while not doing those. That doesn't happen in America. So of course the hourly labor cost to run a restaurant in America is huge with all these people, whereas in Japan you might only need 2-3 people to run the whole place.
Americans like the OP simply won't be happy with the kind of service offered here. It's minimalist and highly efficient, and not at all "warm" or "friendly" like they're used to in America.
Many of the very best restaurants in the country have fixed gratuity and still have absolutely extraordinary service.