Like a fish out of water

Ever thought about how insecure we suddenly become when we find ourselves on a different turf than our own? Visitors are usually insecure, unless they're German.
In Sweden, the service quality is generally rather appalling if you compare to North America. In North America, if the service is bad people tend to scream for the manager. Even if there is a slight problem, some people still scream for the manager.
If you suddenly applied European standards of service in North America, people would be screaming for the manager all the time. You'd barely be able to hear your own thoughts because the restaurants would be full of "Can I speak to the manager!'s".
Yet when North American people come to Europe, they don't appear as confident as they would on their home field. I have had waiters here in Sweden who have been downright sarcastic in the way they treat their customers. And shame on you if you ask to take your leftovers home with you, even though you did pay for it. No, it's just not done here, not without some shame as you ask the question. Here, being a waiter/waitress in a restaurant obviously carries some status, some power. The same goes for clothing stores.
Despite the quality of service that North Americans are used to, they still don't complain when they come here. Why is that? Is that because waiters tend to be more friendly and polite towards tourists, or maybe their English prevents them from being overly rude? Or could it be that visitors are almost always intimidated when they're out of their natural habitat?
I know I'm like that. I tend to let things slip that I wouldn't naturally let slip. I have experienced terrible service in Belgium, for example, but rather than get angry and let the store clerk have it, I started crying a while after my store visit. That had its reasons though, since I had been backpacking around Europe for almost 4 weeks together with 2 friends who didn't get along at all, with me or with each other, and I was physically and emotionally exhausted.
Even so, when we're tourists we are meek. I think we must subconsciously think of foreign places as unknown territory, and so we lose some of our usual gumption.
It's like we don't have the right to complain, because it's not our country, or our city. Thus, we put up with a lot of unnecessary crap.
Although it depends on where you are. I'm a native Swede, yet when I go to restaurants here and receive poor service, I hesitate to complain. The reason is that it's not done as frequently as in Canada, nor to the extreme that it is done there. Here, it's like the waiters and clerks are in charge, and the customers are at their mercy. Sure, you can complain, but you might end up with spit in your food if you do. I was surprised when a relative of mine from Sweden was visiting me in Vancouver, and we went to a restaurant and my steak was raw. Naturally I had the waiter take it back. I wasn't rude or obnoxious about it. My relative was freaking out though, saying "Ooh, now we'll get spit in our food!!" I asked him why he thought so and he said that that's what they would do in Sweden if you sent your food back. I was surprised, since I was used to North American service, where the customer is in charge, where restaurants and stores depend on their customer service.
It's just interesting how insecure we are when we're out of our natural element.