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 lion and its tamer are standing inside a cage that measures 1 unit in radius. Both of them can effortlessly run at the speed of 1 unit maximum.

1) Suppose the lion is hungry, will he be able to eat up the tamer?
2) If yes, how long can the tamer survive?

Asked by Neha on 13 Oct 2023


You are in a room with no metal objects except for two iron rods. Only one of them is a magnet.
How can you identify which one is a magnet?

Asked by Neha on 28 Feb 2024

I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 13 Feb 2022


A monk has a very specific ritual for climbing up the steps to the temple. First, he climbs up to the middle step and meditates for 1 minute. Then he climbs up 8 steps and faces east until he hears a bird singing. Then he walks down 12 steps and picks up a pebble. He takes one step up and tosses the pebble over his left shoulder. Now, he walks up the remaining steps three at a time which only takes him 9 paces. How many steps are there?

Asked by Neha on 16 Apr 2026

Only one color, 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 14 May 2021

You have $100 with you and you have to buy 100 balls with it. 100 is the exact figure and you can't go below or above the numbers and you have to use the entire $100. If there is no kind of tax applied how many of each of the following balls will you be able to buy:

Green Balls costing $6
Yellow Balls costing $3
Black Balls costing $0.10

Now, how many of each must you buy to fulfil the condition given?

Asked by Neha on 30 Jul 2023


What is the probability of choosing the correct answer at random from the options below?

a) 1/4
b) 1/2
c) 1
d) 1/4

Asked by Neha on 18 Apr 2026

In a family supper, a grandfather, a grandmother, two fathers, two mothers, four children, three grandchildren, one brother, two sisters, two sons, two daughters, one daughter-in-law, and one mother-in-law need to sit at a table.

There are only seven chairs available at the place. How many more chairs do they have to borrow so that everyone can sit down together for the suppers if everybody requires a separate chair?

Asked by Neha on 09 Nov 2024

A bridge is about to collapse. There are four people P, Q, R and S on one of the sides. Before the bridge collapses, they want to cross it. Now since the bridge is too weak, it can only stand the weight of two people at a time. Also, it is night time and nothing is visible. They have just one torch with them.

Now P takes one minute to cross the bridge, Q takes two minutes to cross, R takes five minutes to cross and S takes ten minutes to cross.

The bridge will collapse in seventeen minutes. How will they be able to cross the bridge before it collapses?

Asked by Neha on 01 Apr 2024


Today, I celebrated my 32nd birthday but I was born in 1972.
How is this possible?

Asked by Neha on 01 May 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Gamers

In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.