A particularly infuriating example of this is bookstores that demand you turn in your bag at the desk. I just walk out.
The idea that I would give my credit card digits (and CCV!) to a bartender for safe keeping is almost physically painful. I'm the one thinking they are the criminal (and not without justification given the rate of card fraud). I don't let restaurant servers walk away with my card now.
(And split bills should be automatic, they just don't do it because they get bigger tips that way.)
Where are the book stores that ask you to leave your bag? Except for teens maybe it seems weird.
Bill splitting is a major pain in Australia and I've done the whole yelp outrage thing after rude staff have refused to split the bill (when we said at the beginning!). I much prefer Denmark, where the bill is always split, and you have to take someone's bill to pay for them. See also: a year of living danishly https://www.amazon.co.uk/Year-Living-Danishly-Uncovering-Hap...
Highly dependent on the region. In Germany and Austria [the only countries that I'm sure about :)], you're not as expected to tip as in the US for example, but it's still customary to do so.
If your service was bad, you don't tip. If it was okay, you may or may not tip a small amount. If it was great, yes, absolutely, you do tip.
> i.e. wages are very high in CH
That's probably because wages in CH are very high in general. Kind of evens out, seeing as the cost of living is equally high compared to most other countries in central Europe.
Except the "our card reader is broken, we can only accept cash"-surprise, I can only remember three occasions this actually caused some hurdle for me in the past decade-and-a-half.
So now, on top of being required to do the work of the bookstore employees you also lose the benefit of the doubt and are being treated as though you are a common thief.
Industry secret: lots of theft from bookstores is by employees.
I don't understand.
Why would your friend potentially (?) stealing put you off visiting?
Downside is that they probably then think Aha, well done Brian, stopped him in his tracks...