I got the hook up...

So I know most of you all have been out to a restaurant/bar/club where a friend has been the waiter/waitress/bartender, and have gotten "hooked up." In most cases you go have dinner, the soft drinks are left off of the check and you're left to think you saved some money. In reality, you feel compelled to leave a better tip (which you should do anyways if the person serving you is an acquaintance/friend), and dont save any money, giving your friend the extra dollars you leave as a tip. There's nothing wrong with that, but let's say you decide to leave a regular tip after receiving this hook up. Would you be a dick for not giving more after you were not charged for sodas? What if you don't know the person serving you and they hooked it up anyways? (In many cases a younger server will take something off of the bill for a group of younger patrons)

This past week a girl I used to work with at the gym was my server. She didn't charge me for our sodas, saving be about $3.50. I left her $12 on a $28.00 bill, which is about 45%. Had my soft drinks been left on, my bill would have been about $32.00 and I would have probably left the same amount ($40.00). What she did was make herself an extra $4, while making me think she helped me out by not putting my coke on the bill. Tricky huh?

What about when someone you know is bartending? In my experience with that, the person tending bar usually tells me to come out to the place where he/she will be working to help him/her out. I go with some friends, and my friends are expecting to get free alcohol or a lot of alcohol in their drinks (which I dont understand, cause I dont really think alcohol tastes good and would find a drink more attractive if it tasted good while still getting the job done), but is the person tending bar expecting us to pay for every drink AND leave a super tip? If so, why did we even come? I mean I understand the whole support thing, but is it worth me spending my hard earned money on drinks and paying extra cause I have to tip you more then I would the regular bartender? I'm not T-Pain homie...ah hah.