[Freak_NL]

Having a waiter come over for ordering causes stress? The whole point of going out for drinks or food is not having to prepare it yourself and having someone else do the dishes. Depending on the venue getting waited on is a feature, not an inconvenience.

If interacting with the people facilitating that is stressful I would recommend finding a bench near a vending machine, having someone else in your party handle the interaction, or, not going out.

Is this just an issue in countries where waiters depend on tips for their income?

[n4r9]

The food is still prepared to restaurant standard and brought out by waiters. The dishes are still done by someone else. You just skip the awkward, inefficient, and disruptive step of the waiter coming up to your table (or worse, having to flag them down) to order, order more drinks, ask for the bill, pay for the bill, etc...