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

Two guards were on duty outside a barracks. One faced up the road to watch for anyone approaching from the North. The other looked down the road to see if anyone approached from the South. Suddenly one of them said to the other, "Why are you smiling?"

How did he know his companion was smiling?

Asked by Neha on 24 Apr 2022


John can fit six large chocolate boxes or nine small chocolate boxes into a carton. How many cartons will he require to put sixty-six chocolate boxes into?

Asked by Neha on 25 May 2024

I cry without having a voice.
I fly without having wings.
I bite without having teeth.
I whisper without a mouth.

Who am I?

Asked by Neha on 17 Nov 2025


Eight Chelsea player makes the following statements :

1. Seven of us are lying here.
2. Six of us are lying here.
3. Five of us are lying here.
4. Five of us are lying here.
5. Four of us are lying here.
6. Three of us are lying here.
7. My name is Torres.
8. My name is Lampard.

The last two are Lampard and Torres or maybe Torres and Lampard.
So can you deduce which of the last two is Lampard or Torres?

Asked by Neha on 14 Oct 2024

Why do you find that most of the buildings are deprived of the 13th floor?

Asked by Neha on 11 Jan 2025

How can you write nineteen in a manner that if we take out one, it becomes twenty?

Asked by Neha on 23 Nov 2023


What famous saying does this rebus mean?

COME SERVED <---
COME SERVED
COME SERVED
COME SERVED
COME SERVED

Asked by Neha on 09 Sep 2023

A man always keeps a spare tyre in his car. To make full use of all the five tyres, he changes the tyres in a manner that for a distance of 1, 00,000 km, each of them runs the same distance.

Can you calculate the distance travelled by each tyre on that journey?

Asked by Neha on 14 Sep 2023

We have shown you a regular water barrel as below. Without using any measuring device can you check if the barrel is more than half-filled or less than half-filled?

Half Filled barrel

Asked by Neha on 10 May 2023


Three fair coins are tossed in the air and they land with heads up. Can you calculate the chances that when they are tossed again, two coins will again land with heads up?

Asked by Neha on 28 Mar 2024

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