Why should the restaurant/ bar take a loss though. Should just chalk this up to a lesson in responsibility- being responsible enough to know when to quit drinking, and responsible enough to not ask someone to pay for your mistake.
Because if they refuse and then if the person downs the drink, gets too drunk and injures someone the bar and bartender are held responsible. Bar tenders are supposed to cut you off at a certain point to avoid this.
Yes, I'm not arguing that the bar shouldn't have given the patron a refund. That was incredibly sweet and good business. I'm arguing that the patron shouldn't have asked in the first place.
Okay, let's look at this from a purely economical perspective and disregard that people, including workers and owners, sometimes have pity on people.
This person will remember the kindness and prefer to go to that place in the future. They'll even bring their friends. Therefore, potentially, making it a profitable move.
I 100% agree. I think that it was rude for the customer to ask for refund in the first place. If I go to a restaurant and order dessert after dinner and then decide that I don't want it, I don't ask for my money back. Why is it different just because of alcohol?
Because alcohol has greater liability for the establishment supplying it. They're legally required not to over serve alcohol while no such requirement exists for food. That's because overeating once in a while just results in a stomach ache, maybe vomiting if you really overdo it whereas over drinking can result in death.
I'm not so sure that EU bar laws are similar to American laws as far as liability is concerned. But even if they are, there no reason that an establishment's liabity would excuse the patron's fiscal responsibility. He ordered the drink, he's responsible for paying for it. Just because the customer decides he's done drinking, I don't see why then the bar owes him his money back. And there's no law that says that drink has to be drank. Just put the drink down and go home.