The Waiter

Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognises the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men.

The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.

Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14. Where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?




Similar Riddles

Two fathers and two sons decided to go to a shop and buy some sweets upon reaching. Each of them bought 1 kg of sweet. All of them returned home after some time and found out that they had 3kg of sweets with them.

They did not eat the sweets in the way, nor threw or lose anything. Then, how can this be possible?

Asked by Neha on 01 Jun 2024


It's pretty hard to give up.
If you remove a part of it, you will be left with a bit.
Even if you remove another part, the bit still remains.
Remove one more and it still remains.

What is it?

Asked by Neha on 06 May 2025

Can you count the number of quadrilaterals in the picture below?

Count the Quadrilaterals

Asked by Neha on 14 Mar 2023


You are trapped in a room with two doors. One leads to certain death and the other leads to freedom. You don't know which is which.
There are two robots guarding the doors. They will let you choose one door but upon doing so you must go through it.
You can, however, ask one robot one question. The problem is one robot always tells the truth, the other always lies and you don't know which is which.
What is the question you ask?

Asked by Neha on 08 May 2026

Three fair coins are tossed in the air and they land with heads up. Can you calculate the chances that when they are tossed again, two coins will again land with heads up?

Asked by Neha on 28 Mar 2024

Only one colour, but not one size,
Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies.
Present in sun, but not in rain,
Doing no harm, and feeling no pain.
What is it?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021


An octopus has 8 legs. A hippogriff has 6 legs and 2 pairs of wings. A sphinx has 6 legs and one pair of wings. Now we have all 3 kinds and a total of 18 insects in a cage. We have a total of 118 legs and 20 pairs of wings. How many insects do we have of each kind?

Asked by Neha on 13 Oct 2024

In The Image Below Which clock is the odd one out?

Odd One Out Clock

Asked by Neha on 26 Jun 2026

What can you deduce from the following BrainBat?

CRY
LMKI

Asked by Neha on 26 Aug 2024


What has to be broken before you can use it?

Asked by Neha on 06 May 2022

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Gambling

In Canada, a mathematical puzzle must be solved in order to win the lottery to classify it as a “game of skill” not gambling.