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

Katniss and Peeta are liars. They both lie on some specific days.

Katniss lies on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. She speaks the truth on all other days.

Peeta lies on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. He speaks the truth on all other days.

Can you tell that one day of the week when both of them will say "Tomorrow, I will lie."?

Asked by Neha on 11 Mar 2026


How many Watermelons are there in the below picture?

How many Watermelons?

Asked by Neha on 13 Apr 2025

A seven-year-old kid challenged his classmates that he can make the number one disappear by adding something to it.

How can he do that?

Asked by Neha on 04 Apr 2024


In the Mexico City area, there are two Houses H1 and H2. Both H1 and H2 have two children each.
In House H1, The boy plays for Mexico Youth academy and the other child plays baseball.
In House H2, The boy Plays soccer for his school in Mexico and they recently have a newborn.

Can you prove that the probability of House-H1 having a girl child is more than that of House-H2?

Asked by Neha on 06 Jun 2024

John and his wife were living in a rural place. On a particular day, John's wife fell ill and he called the local doctor. When the doctor picked up, he said, "Doctor, my wife is ill. She might have appendicitis."

"This can't be possible! I took out her appendix two years ago myself," the doctor explained.

When diagnosed, John's wife was found to have appendicitis. How can this be possible?

Asked by Neha on 19 Jun 2024

At a bar, three friends, Mr Green, Mr Red and Mr Blue, were having a drink. One man was wearing a red suit; one a green suit; and the other a blue suit. 'Have you noticed,' said the man in the blue suit, 'that although our suits have colours corresponding to our names, not one of us is wearing a suit that matches our own names?' Mr Red looked at the other two and said, 'You're absolutely correct. What colour suit is each man wearing?

Asked by Neha on 03 Dec 2023


John needs to purchase 100 chocolates from three different shops and he has exactly 100 rupees to do that which he must spend entirely. He must buy at least 1 Chocolate from each shop.

The first shop is selling each chocolate at 5 paise, the second is selling at 1 rupee and the third is selling at 5 rupees.

How many chocolates should he buy from each shop?

Asked by Neha on 23 Aug 2023

A man was going to bleach his socks because they had gotten muddy the day before. As he was pouring the bleach into the washing machine, he spilt some on the floor. He got some cleaning fluid and mopped it up with a rag. Minutes later he was dead. What killed him?

Asked by Neha on 09 Feb 2024

What is more useful when it is broken?

Asked by Neha on 30 Mar 2022


John: "Hi Teacher, What is your favourite movie ?".
Chemistry Teacher: "Indium Cerium Platinum Iodine Oxygen Nitrogen".
Ten seconds later... John replied I got it.

Do you?

Asked by Neha on 19 Feb 2026

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.