The irony here is stunning. that really sucks for you.

that really does suck! i hope you let down the bastard's tyres or something.

I agree with #2. There is probably more to this story. I doubt you got fired for 'doing my job', however, you probably got the axe for talking back. Though from various stories I hear, I am irritated that people get fired so quickly for even insinuating that a customer is wrong when they are in fact 100% incorrect. I'd imagine that is just how business rolls... However it may be helpful to revise training: Learn the rules, however if a customer balks at said rules, do not enforce them, or talk to a manager right away. Better than getting fired I suppose, though you would probably get fired for wasting the customers' time by going to talk to a manager, and the cycle continues.

That policy is extremely stupid, BUT that isn't your fault as you didn't make the rules. I have trouble believing you would have gotten fired over doing what you were supposed to do, so I'm thinking there HAS to be more to this story.

I think people that bring in drinks/food from other restaurants are ridiculous. Its just bad manners. If you want something from 2 or more places then get what you want and eat it in a public place or on your own property (in your car, at your house, etc.). I think its especially rude if the person is bringing in something from another place that is served in the same place. ie. When people bring their Dunkin Donuts coffees into Starbucks to order someone else's or vice versa. Leave your frigging drink in the car for 2 mins. I want to slap every person that does stupid crap like that. But, I do think your restaurant is a bit ridiculous making them pay for the drink again, and I'm pretty sure that isn't even legal. They could tell them to put it away (in a purse, in the car, etc.) or throw it away.

if drinks are half the profit than your food must ******* suck! kind of a dick move on your part, but you should not have been fired

Corporation sucks!

Just so everyone is aware, what I am about to write are descriptions of actual employment laws. You cannot be fired for enforcing company policy. However, you can be fired for NOT enforcing company policy. If you repeatedly let people bring in "outside" drinks, then legally, the company/restaurant that you work for could fire you. However, assuming that you informed this man of the policy, and told him that bringing drinks in from the outside is not allowed without being rude, then legally the restaurant could not fire you. You are more than entitled to file a lawsuit for wrongful termination. It likely would never get that far, because both parties involved would not want to go to court over something that could be resolved in a much easier way. About the company policy, it may be partially because of profit issues, but there is a much bigger reason for it. If someone were to bring in and consume food or drink from an outside establishment while at the same time eating your food, and they were to get food poisoning, they could file a lawsuit against your restaurant.

This makes no sense at all, didn't you explain the situation to the guy who fired you?

I hate when companies do this, they expect you to enforce these stupid policies but when a customer makes a big deal management change s its story and puts it on the employee....sorry you got screwed