As per their tradition, the promotees will be treating the whole department (24 of them) for lunch.
They decided on a buffet lunch at a hotel.
A colleague told them that this hotel has a promotion offering 30% discount off if they book through an third party reservation application.
One of them wrote to the hotel and asked if the 30% discount could be extended to them if they book directly with the hotel.
The hotel's staff replied that they can only offer 18% discount. If they want to enjoy the 30% discount, they would have to book through the third party reservation application. And the discount is applicable for a maximum of five persons per table.
This means that five bookings would have to be made for the 24 of them. But the five tables would be separated as mentioned in the staff reply.
And in order to enjoy the 18% discount, they have to pay a deposit else the discount is extend to 10 persons and the rest have to pay full price.
They wrote back asking if the hotel could make special arrangement for them to be seated together.
The reply was an affirmative "No."
They decided on another hotel that has a 1-for-1 promotion.