> America is weird because you can actually make a lot of money waiting tables.

Most do not.

Yeah, it's relative. Bartenders can make decent money in America, but I'm guessing it's a modest salary in most of the EU.

I just moved to the Netherlands and have no qualms with the service in most restaurants. At least in my region (Brabant/Limburg) everyone is very nice. If I had to complain about anything, it would be sitting for 20 minutes after the party is finished eating, waiting for someone to clear the table. The service has been excellent and I enjoy paying the price on the receipt with zero surprises!

I was in Amsterdam a few years ago and said a few words in Dutch to the waiter, who was really amused by it. He asked where we were from and ended up sitting down and chatting with us for like half and hour, and drew us a map of his favorite spots nearby. We also met a few really chatty bartenders, including a guy how ducked behind the bar and came back up holding kittens. I’m not sure why we had such good experiences, but it was great.

Restaurants are hardly the only industry in the Netherlands having trouble finding staff at the moment. There are quite literally less trains because the train operators can't find enough staff.

Last time I was in Amsterdam I couldn’t even speak Dutch to the waiters. Pretty ridiculous. I don’t think that happens in U.K. or US unable to speak English to the waiter of a chain restaurant

Thanks for this comment. I love experiences like this and this makes me want to go to Amsterdam even more at some point. I've experienced this in random small towns in the US, but they are few and far between.

It's not true that nobody tips in NL, but it's not mandatory; I still tip if the quality of the experience merits it. That goes beyond the responsiveness of the waiting staff, but also the ambience. If I'm eating in a glorified mess hall, which most restaurants devolve to if they optimize for number of seats, I don't tip. To me, a real restaurant also takes care of acoustics and privacy: you shouldn't have to raise your voice to be heard over the noise of the tables around you (or worse, the muzak).

It's also why the whole concept of QR-code menus is antithetical to my idea of a good restaurant: if you're dining out, you're doing it to enjoy the company you're in. Having everyone at the table space out into their private phone world is not my idea of a nice evening.

Most of the time a service charge is included anyways