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

One fine day, an intellectual man came to the emperor's court with the aim of testing Birbal's wittiness. In order to do this, he challenged Birbal to answer his question and hence prove that he was as intelligent and witty as he was said to be.
He asked Birbal, Do you want me to ask one difficult question or a hundred easy ones?
Since both Akbar and Birbal had had a tough day and were eager to leave, Birbal hastily told the intellectual to ask him a single difficult question.
Intellectual: OK. Tell me what came first into the world, the egg or the chicken?
Of course, the chicken, Birbal replied with a smile.
This time with a note of victory in his voice, the intellectual asked Birbal, How will you demonstrate that?
What did Birbal say?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021


In the given figure, move three matchsticks so that the resulting figure contains two rectangles.

Matchsticks Rectangles

Asked by Neha on 25 Jul 2024

There are hundred red gems and hundred blue gems. The blue gems are priceless while the red gems equal wastage. You have two sacks one labeled Heads and the other Tails. You have to distribute the gems as you want in the two sacks. Then a coin will be flipped and you will be asked to pick up a gem randomly from the corresponding sacks.

How will you distribute the gems between the sacks so that the odds of picking a Blue gem are maximum?

Asked by Neha on 29 May 2023


You are in a room that has three switches and a closed door. The switches control three light bulbs on the other side of the door. Once you open the door, you may never touch the switches again. How can you definitively tell which switch is connected to each of the light bulbs?

Asked by Neha on 02 Jul 2025

How many minutes are there in Feb 2017?

Note: The shortest answer is the correct answer.

Asked by Neha on 08 Aug 2024

What is greater than gold but cannot be bought. it can never be sold and can earn if its sought. though it can be broken, it can still be fixed. for by birth it can't start nor by death it is ended.what am i?

Asked by Neha on 19 Mar 2022


Two prisoners Jack and Jill are locked in a cell.
There is open window approx 40 feet above the ground of the cell.
They are never able to reach there.

Then they plan to escape by a tunnel and they start digging out.
After digging for more than 20 days, Jill comes with the different plan and they escaped.

what was the plan ?

Asked by Neha on 10 Aug 2021

A tourist visits a small town for his research. While in the town, he decides to get a haircut. Since the town is quite small, there are only two barbers in the town � one on the North Street and one on the South Street. The barbershop on the North Street is a mess and the barber has a weird and pathetic haircut. While the barbershop at the South Street is pretty tidy and the barber as well has an impressive haircut.

Which barbershop will the tourist visit for his haircut and why?

Famous Barber Haircut Riddle

Asked by Neha on 23 Jul 2024

Can you find out what is missing?

1 3 5
2 4 ?

Hint: It's not six. Think out of the box.

Asked by Neha on 25 Aug 2023


What month of the year has 28 days?

Asked by Neha on 08 May 2022

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

No Solution

In 2007, a puzzle was released and $2 million prizes were offered for the first complete solution. The competition ended at noon on 31 December 2010, with no solution being found. Wiki