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

A boy and a girl are sitting on the porch.
"I'm a boy," says the child with black hair.
"I'm a girl," says the child with red hair.
If at least one of them is lying, who is which?

Asked by Neha on 21 Aug 2024


One evening there was a murder in the home of a married couple, their son and daughter. One of these four people murdered one of the others. One of the members of the family witnessed the crime.

The other one helped the murderer.

These are the things we know for sure:

1. The witness and the one who helped the murderer were not of the same sex.

2. The oldest person and the witness were not of the same sex.

3. The youngest person and the victim were not of the same sex.

4. The one who helped the murderer was older than the victim.

5. The father was the oldest member of the family.

6. The murderer was not the youngest member of the family.

Who was the murderer?

Asked by Neha on 20 Sep 2025

An equation has been laid down using a few matchsticks. However, as you can see, the equation is not correct. Can you correct the equation if you are allowed to add or remove 5 matchsticks?

Correct the Equation

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2021


As we know that white starts the game of chess. Can you find the scenario shown in the picture below is possible when all the white pieces are at the original place while the black pawn is not as in the below picture?

Chess Game Trick

Asked by Neha on 04 Sep 2023

We have arranged an array of numbers below. What you have to do is use any kind of mathematical symbol you know excluding any symbol that contains a number like cube root. You can use any amount of symbols but you have to come up with a valid equation for all of them.

0 0 0 = 6
1 1 1 = 6
2 + 2 + 2 = 6
3 3 3 = 6
4 4 4 = 6
5 5 5 = 6
6 6 6 = 6
7 7 7 = 6
8 8 8 = 6
9 9 9 = 6

Asked by Neha on 19 Sep 2025

Find the smallest sentence with all the English alphabet.

Asked by Neha on 21 Sep 2025


If I remove one from eleven it becomes Ten and if I remove one from nine also becomes Ten. How?

Asked by Neha on 25 Oct 2023

In an Art Gallary, When the clock hit 11 am, Artist hung the painting number 30. When it struck 4 pm, he hung painting number 240 and when it struck 7:30 pm, he hung painting number 315.

Can you determine, which painting number will he hang when the time is 9:20 pm?

Asked by Neha on 18 Sep 2025

I am sure no one can have two things for dinner. what are they?

Asked by Neha on 18 Nov 2024


I don't get anymore wetter, no matter how much rain falls on me.

Asked by Neha on 22 Jan 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence has crushed all human records in the puzzle game “2048,” achieving a high score of 839,732 and beating the game in only 973 moves without using any undo.