[ma2rten]

It's even worse in Europe, where a "mandatory tip" is already included in your bill by the time you get it.

There is no "mandatory tip" in Europe. It's actually very simple: you pay for a service, the business pays it's employees. How much the employees get payed is not your concern as a customer. You can tip if you received excellent service, but that is totally optional as it should be.

In general, the US is a consumer paradise compared to Europe.

That is not true. US is business friendly. Europe is consumer and employee friendly. Just some examples: VAT is included in the price, all electronics include 2 year warranty, if you pay CRV you can return the bottle at the shop, shops must except returns, ...

[dantheman]

Europe is not consumer friendly at all.

Service is terrible, many places only accept cash, more accept debit cards, most don't accept credit cards.

Store hours are terrible.

[59nadir]

Sweden runs almost exclusively on plastic and technology, so much so that even a lot of older people don't even get physical bills anymore.

To say "Europe is..." about anything is a pretty broad statement. Your one or two trips to a couple of european countries probably doesn't qualify you to make this statement.

It's true about some countries in Europe. Bulgaria, for example, generally has bad service and you're lucky if you can use card to pay for everything you buy during a day. This is not representative of even a majority of Europe, though.

[elbear]

Where in Europe have you been? The diversity between countries is big and even in the same country you encounter differences.

[dalore]

Perhaps in the country. Europe is a big place. Places I go in Paris, Stockholm, London, Amsterdam usually accept cards.