I know you don't want to reveal your country, Prime J, but those hints are quite tantalizing.
(And I'm far from an economist—my profession was horticulture.)

For example, Americans demand (and get) far better service from businesses, whereas Europeans tend to hunker down and queue, if that's what it takes.

Perhaps that's because we have so many options, as well as the leisure and means to explore and take advantage of them. I've read descriptions of Europeans standing in queue for hours for a product but I suspect this is because of scarcity, not desire. It's certainly hard to determine which is the cause and which is the effect.