Apparently said person has since been sacked, so clearly Towers agreed that it was way beyond what any sales person should be doing... Seems it might well have been the person's idea, rather than the park itself (though of course, that goes against the Merlin = bad thing)...
Thorpe are stupid for being selective in their drinks place choices though, causes more queues at specific places and if I recall Glass House doesn't do it, meaning that I wouldn't want to eat there because I'm not paying extra for a drink when I can get it for free elsewhere... See also Kebab place... It's a daft choice and bollocks is it against wasps...