Oh, and those of you who put on your own wheels (changeovers) that do not use a torque wrench, how do you check the torque after a few days/kms? Or do you "save" by not bothering with that either? 
Even if your tires have been torqued by "experts
" does that mean you never check them?
While most of the tire shops do a good job I think you are over estimating their abilities. From my observations, the average tire monkey is not a brain surgeon. When they look up the torque specs for your car do they realize that there may have been different wheels offered in that model year and the torques were different? When was the last time their torque wrench was calibrated? Did the tire installer down 4 jugs of draft the night before? Remember, for the most part these employees are not Journeyman mechanics, they are highschoolers...at best. That being said I have had mostly positive experiences from tire shops and Tire Trends in particular.
If you have a flat tire on the side of the road would you feel comfortable driving on the spare rim even if the lugs hadn't been torqued to spec with a proper wrench?
I put the lug wrench that the vehicle came with on each lug and apply some pressure. I check 3 days after an install and then a couple weeks later. I have never found a loose lug. I think the loose lugs worry was born out of experiences with cheap aftermarket wheels with the lock washers.
