If I'm at a pub, or basically any alcohol-based venue that has a proper food menu, then yeah, I'm likely to get charged for every drink. At a "local bar" type of operation, or something like a Royal Canadian Legion branch (I don't know what the American version of this is, but it's basically a bar for ex-service men), then I tend not to get charged. It's a designated driver thing, primarily, but they don't really care if you're actually the DD.
Last Saturday, my girlfriends work had their Christmas party, and I ordered two Cokes.
Bartender: That'll be $2.50, or are you driving?
Me: ...?
Bartender: Non-alcoholic drinks are free for designated drivers.
Me: I could say I'm driving...
Bartender: You could.
Me: pays $2.50
For restaurants, it's just like you said, margins are so high that refills are free. That first drink costs less than any single alcoholic beverage, so I save money right away, and every drink thereafter is pure profit (or more accurately, pure non-loss).
Thanks for the info. I knew they had to exist, but I haven;t so much as stepped foot in the States for over a decade (making me no more than 15 when I was there), so I wasn't familiar with them.
If I'm at a pub, or basically any alcohol-based venue that has a proper food menu, then yeah, I'm likely to get charged for every drink. At a "local bar" type of operation, or something like a Royal Canadian Legion branch (I don't know what the American version of this is, but it's basically a bar for ex-service men), then I tend not to get charged. It's a designated driver thing, primarily, but they don't really care if you're actually the DD.
Last Saturday, my girlfriends work had their Christmas party, and I ordered two Cokes.
Bartender: That'll be $2.50, or are you driving? Me: ...? Bartender: Non-alcoholic drinks are free for designated drivers. Me: I could say I'm driving... Bartender: You could. Me: pays $2.50
For restaurants, it's just like you said, margins are so high that refills are free. That first drink costs less than any single alcoholic beverage, so I save money right away, and every drink thereafter is pure profit (or more accurately, pure non-loss).