Yeah it’s not a good solution at all. Would have been better to have a separate place for water to serve both purposes. I see a lot of places that will have a glass pitcher dispenser on the side of a soda dispenser just for water.
The water usually tastes better from these, anyway. Not polluted by the sugary soda/carbonation that comes from the same dispenser.
Would also be obvious that someone isn’t getting free soda and pretending to get water since it’s a totally different place.
It’s stupidly easy to make up stuff on AITA and get upvotes/comments. I made up one just for fun and was surprised at how popular it got. Well, now not so much, but back when I did.
If you know the audience and what gets them upset, you’ve got easy karma farming.