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

I always drive my customer away.

Who am I?

Asked by Neha on 29 Oct 2024


I have a five and a three-gallon jar. Assuming there is an infinite supply of water, how can I measure one-gallon water?

Easy Gallon Riddle

Asked by Neha on 21 May 2021

In a basket of apples,
when counted in twos, there was one extra
when counted in threes, there were two extra when counted in fours, there were three extra
when counted in fives, there were four extra
when counted in sixes, there was five extra.

However, if the apples were counted in sevens, no extra apple was left. Can you calculate the minimum number of apples that were present in the basket?

Asked by Neha on 12 Sep 2023


We have four gears with below features=> Both Gear A and D has 60 teeth=> Gear B has 40 teeth=> Gear C has 20 teeth=> Every two minutes, Gear B makes 25 full turns.What is the relative speed of Gear A and Gear B?

Gear Rotation Riddle

Asked by Neha on 21 Aug 2021

The first box has two white balls. The second box has two black balls. The third box has a white and a black ball.

Boxes are labeled but all labels are wrong!

You are allowed to open one box, pick one ball at random, see its colour and put it back into the box, without seeing the colour of the other ball.

How many such operations are necessary to correctly label the boxes?

Asked by Neha on 24 Jun 2021

A girl was sitting in her hotel room when she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door and found that a man was standing outside.
The man said, "Oh! I am really sorry, I thought this was my room."
He then walked through the corridor to the elevator. The girl did not know the man. She closed her door and called security asking them to apprehend the man.
What made her suspicious of that man? He might have been genuinely mistaken.

Asked by Neha on 28 Aug 2023


A farmer and his neighbour once went to Emperor Akbar"s court with a complaint. "Your Majesty, I bought a well from him," said the farmer pointing to his neighbour, "and now he wants me to pay for the water."
"That"s right, your Majesty," said the neighbour. "I sold him the well but not the water!"?
The Emperor asked Birbal to settle the dispute. How did Birbal solve the dispute?

Asked by Neha on 10 May 2021

The answer I give is yes, but what I mean is no. What was the question?

Asked by Neha on 04 Sep 2025

Detective John was investigating a murder in China.
It was a difficult case, and John was completely stumped until he noticed a message sent to him by the killer cunningly hidden in a newspaper advertisement selling Car Licence Plates.
Detective John thought about it for a while, and when he had solved the puzzle, immediately arrested the guilty man.

Q1) How did John know the advert was a clue for him?

Q2) Solve the code and tell me who John arrested.

This is the newspaper advert (Car licence plates for sale) that Detective John saw.

Plates For Sale;

[W 05 NWO]
[H 13 HSR]
[O 05 EBM]
[D 08 UNE]
[U 10 HTY]
[N 04 BRE]
[N 16 TTE]
[I 26 LHC]
[T 10 AEE]
[I 26 CNA]
[X 22 VDA]

Asked by Neha on 07 Jul 2023


I have a mouth but I don't eat.
I have a bank but have no money.
I have a bed but i dont sleep.
I wave but have no hands.

Who Am I ?

Asked by Neha on 01 Mar 2023

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Challenging

There is a cryptic organization called Cicada 3301 that posts challenging puzzles online, possibly to recruit codebreakers and linguists.