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

With pointed fangs I sit and wait; with piercing force I crunch out fate; grabbing victims, proclaiming might; physically joining with a single bite. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 13 Mar 2025


Find the next number in the series.
1 10 24 43 67 ?

Asked by Neha on 26 Jun 2024

A mathematics teacher took exams for his students. Out of the total students, 25% passed both the tests included in the exam. However, only 42% were able to clear the first test.

Can you find out the percentage of those students who passed the first test and also passed the second test?

Asked by Neha on 21 Jan 2025


Client Dempsey living in one of the East Coast states of the U.S. was talking to Landon Donovan, who was living in the West Coast state of the U.S.

Dempsey: What time is it?
Donovan: Wow, It is the same time here.

How is this possible?

Asked by Neha on 30 Apr 2025

Birbal was jester, counsellor, and fool to the great Moghul emperor, Akbar.
The villagers loved to talk of Birbal's wisdom and cleverness,
and the emperor loved to try to outsmart him.
One day Akbar (emperor) drew a line across the floor.
"Birbal," he ordered, "you must make this line shorter, but you cannot erase any bit of it."
Everyone present thought the emperor had finally outsmarted Birbal.
It was clearly an impossible task.
Yet within moments the emperor and everyone else present had to agree that Birbal had made the line shorter without erasing any of it.
How could this be?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021

A man was gazing through the window of the 23rd floor of the building. He suddenly opened the window and jumped on the other side of the window. On landing on the floor, there was not a sheer mark of injury on him.

How can that be possible if he did not use any kind of parachute and did not land on a soft surface?

Asked by Neha on 12 Feb 2025


There are six people in a family namely M, N, O, P, Q and R.

R and O are brother and sister.

N is the brother of Q's husband.
P is the father of M and grandfather of R.

How many male members are in the family?

Asked by Neha on 22 Oct 2023

In Greek mythology, the Sphinx sat outside of Thebes and asked this riddle of all travellers who passed by. If the traveller failed to solve the riddle, then the Sphinx killed him/her. And if the traveller answered the riddle correctly, then the Sphinx would destroy herself. The riddle:

What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?

Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx destroyed herself.

Asked by Neha on 26 Jul 2024

There are two guys standing face to face in a room. On a wall, there is a clock. One of those is a prophet. He tells the other guy that he will be stabbed in the back in five minutes.

Shocked to hear that, the other guy stares at the clock. Just after the five minutes, he is stabbed on the back. Can you tell what happened?

Asked by Neha on 29 Apr 2025


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

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Rubik’s Cube

The inventor of the Rubik’s Cube didn’t realize he’d built a puzzle until he scrambled it the first time and tried to restore it.