When I tip (outside the US) its done so as a genuine expression of gratitude for good service. It's my way of encouraging and rewarding good service. If its done under compulsion than its no longer a tip, it's a charge and good service is relegated as less meaningful.
That's interesting.
When in Europe I've found it pretty common to see a "tip" section in the bill, where the tip is already added on to the bill by the management and counted in to total you have to pay.
That's rare in the US, where at most one sees a "suggested amount", and usually tipping is completely optional.
Why not just increase the price of the food and service charges to compensate for the salaries?
It feels like some kind of psychological hack where they want price of food to appear cheap on paper till the moment you pay.
But you do have to pay the full total of your meal regardless of how you felt.
That's why making "tips" mandatory is the scam. It's not a tip if it's mandatory.
I can't recall having ever seen this despite having travelled, and indeed continuing to travel, Europe extensively.
A denoted service charge is not uncommon, but I would be interested to see where exactly you believe the above to be commonly experienced.
In the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Czech, I've found it to be pretty common. It could have been other countries as well, as I traveled relatively widely, mostly in Northern and Eastern Europe myself. But unfortunately I didn't keep a log of exactly where this happened. Just noticed it happened a lot, and was more the rule rather than the exception.