Originally Posted by
BearX220
The OP's story was a case of policy trampling good sense. Very often, if I'm drinking at a bar and ask for a Diet Coke to close after three or so beers, the soda doesn't show up on the bill. To the bar, it's about three pennies' worth of product, and the bartender insures him/herself a good tip. Much smarter than appending a rather large dining tab with a $4.75 club soda charge. That said, the waiter probably didn't have the discretion most bartenders do, so shouldn't suffer a smaller tip.
That's how I feel, although if it did come from the bar, the server probably did not have much discretion, as they probably needed to enter it into the register to have it generate an alert for the bartender.