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

You can win me and lose me but never buy me
You can not eat me and never want to part with me
I can make you cry or bring you joy
I am not a machine and definitely not a toy
You keep me but i am not forever just yours
You might find me in a case or on a shelf next to a vase
I am hard and i am tall if you bump me i am sure to fall
I am made of different materials and am at many events
If your lucky and fight hard I might be yours
What am I ?

Asked by Neha on 11 May 2021


Once upon a time, there was a castle on a square island. The entire island was surrounded by a 14m wide trench. The Romans had wanted to invade the castle and had brought a few wooden planks along with them to facilitate themselves in crossing the moat. The planks were however found to be only 13m long.

The Romans still managed to cross the trench. How did they do it?

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Can it be possible to build a house that has all its four walls facing towards the South?

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Using the clues below, what four numbers am I thinking of?

The sum of all the numbers is 31.
One number is odd.
The highest number minus the lowest number is 7.
If you subtract the middle two numbers, it equals two.
There are no duplicate numbers.

Asked by Neha on 06 Jan 2025

Can you identify the direction in which this bus is moving; left or right?

Hint: The bus is moving on the roads of London.


Find Bus Direction

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021

At the local model boat club, four friends were talking about their boats.

There were a total of eight boats, two in each colour, red, green, blue and yellow. Each friend owned two boats. No friend had two boats of the same colour.

Alan didn't have a yellow boat. Brian didn't have a red boat but did have a green one. One of the friends had a yellow boat and a blue boat and another friend had a green boat and a blue boat. Charles had a yellow boat. Darren had a blue boat, but didn't have a green one.

Can you work out which friend had which coloured boats?

Asked by Neha on 15 Jan 2024


Get total of 120 by using five zeros 0,0,0,0,0 and any one mathematical operator.
Do you ?

Asked by Neha on 09 Jul 2021

A professor thinks of two consecutive numbers between 1 and 10.
'A' knows the 1st number and 'B' knows the second number

A: I do not know your number.
B: Nor do I know your number.
A: Now I know.

What are the four solutions for this?

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Replace the 'X' with any mathematical symbol to make the expression equal to 111.

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Asked by Neha on 27 Jul 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

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Out of the Box

The phrase “thinking outside the box” was popularised from the solution to a topographical puzzle involving 9 dots in a box shape.