I'm curious where you live. I live in Southern California and frequent several different independent coffee shops on a weekly basis. I just don't have this problem. "efficient, cordial, but out of your way" describes my experience perfectly.

In average French restaurants/coffee shops, since waiters aren't tipped, they don't care so much about the efficient part, sometimes even the cordial part. They are out of your way though.

In America if a waiter is too chatty you can politely ask for more quiet time, they are chatty because they want a good tip. Asking a French waiter to be less out of your way isn't as easy

> Asking a French waiter to be less out of your way isn't as easy

I would rephrase that to "Asking a French waiter to be more in your way because the service sucks isn't as easy."

> since waiters aren't tipped, they don't care so much about the efficient part, sometimes even the cordial part.

I would say this could be due more to other factors apart from tipping.

I don't find hospitality customer service any ruder in Australia and we're not a tipping country.

The basis of the French waiter style is cultural, not economic. The idea of "service" is much different in France. The "egalité" of the French society is theoretically classless, meaning there isn't the concept of a "servant" class. So everyone is equal in terms of the customer -- waiter dynamic. Interestingly, in my town of Avignon, I am somewhat well known among the restaurants I frequent and thus it isn't unusual to have chats with the waiters, but it's more like colleagues chatting as opposed to that fake/friendliness you get in a place like Chile's. I mightn't have articulated my idea well due to my time constraints today, but the net point is that there's a cultural difference based on societal "role" as opposed to grubbing for tips. That isn't to demean other cultures (I used to be the chatty American bartender in the US back in the day,) -- it just is what it is.

It's complicated wrt Australia vs America hospitality customer service - I do tend to find overall that you get better service in the US and way more emphasis on checking whether things are going well and making sure you're having a good experience. That said, I am often surprised how bad service can be in the US given the whole emphasis on tipping - I guess part of it is very few people would actually not tip on bad service (I feel awful tipping less than 15%, regardless of how bad the service was).

In general though, customer service seems to be superior in the US than in Australia from my experience.

Superior is subjective. I find the constant hovering and obsequiousness of American service workers disruptive and annoying. I don't mind getting a waiter's attention if I need it.

Yeah I tried to couch it in terms of being my opinion / experience as much as possible. It is a very subjective thing.

Exactly what I love about France -- there (generally) when you need them, ghosts when you don't.

To be fair, that's the goal of perfect service. Every interaction precise, pleasant and necessary to improving your experience of the meal. Being available, but not imposing presence unnecessarily.

Tipping incentivizes a waiter to over-promise (sure I can take care of both of these sections!) and sometimes results in under-delivering.

They intend, and try to give good service 99% of the time I think. So for me at least, that's why I have trouble not tipping. It's the thought/effort that counts I guess. I almost never have a less-than-great service situation and attribute it to the waiter just being lazy. Can't remember the last time that happened to be honest.

In my experience/opinion, service in Australia tends to be a lot more genuine, whereas in the US you get fake nice just so the waiter gets their tips

Which also means when someone is in a bad mood you really feel it.

I do vastly prefer the model in Australia of anyone being your server, rather than having a specific waiter. If your waiter goes missing in the US, it seems so silly that if you talk to another waiter, they have to go find _your specific one_ for you.

Really? This is one of your least favorite things about America? Wow.