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

What kind of band never plays music?

Asked by Neha on 09 Jul 2023


Which number should replace the question mark?

Triangular Logic

Asked by Neha on 11 Aug 2023

In The 1st month of this year(the year 2013), I noticed that the date 13-1-13 (13 January 2013) is special.

This date is special as:

Date * Month = Year.

Can you figure out which year of this century has a maximum number of such dates?

Asked by Neha on 14 Aug 2024


There are four people in a house. A fireman, an athlete, an old woman, and a drunk guy. The house catches fire and before the fact is known, it is too late. All they know is that the entire house is in flames and it will collapse exactly after twelve minutes. Now they can move out of the house but for that, they will have to pass the hallway which is entirely blazing with flames. Thus to move, one must carry a fire extinguisher to keep the flames away. Seeking the burnt wooden floor, only two people can run through that hallway at one time. But for others to go, one must return back with the fire extinguisher. The fireman is trained for such tasks and can run through the hallway in a minute. The athlete can make it in a couple of minutes. The old woman can run slowly and will cover the hallway in four minutes. The drunk guy will take five minutes to run through it. If all of them can make it through the hallway in twelve minutes, all of them will be saved. When two move together, they will run at the speed of the slower ones.

How will all four of them manage to run to safety?

Asked by Neha on 02 Jun 2023

'S' refers to the number of seconds in a day and 'H' refers to the number of hours in ten years. Which quantity out of these two is greater?

Asked by Neha on 28 Apr 2025

Find The Missing Number In the Sequence.
6 25 64 ? 32 1

Asked by Neha on 07 Nov 2024


What is the unique property of the following words ?
* Revive
* Banana
* Grammar
* Voodoo
* Assess
* Potato
* Dresser
* Uneven

Asked by Neha on 20 Aug 2021

John speaks the truth only once a day in a week. Below are a few hints for you:

First: Days are Sunday, Monday and so on.
Second: One day he says, "I lie on Monday and Tuesday".
Third: On the next day, he says, "Today is either Thursday, Saturday or Sunday".
Fourth: On the next day, he says, "I lie on Wednesday and Friday".

Can you identify the day on which he speaks the truth?

Asked by Neha on 09 May 2025

Yesterday I fell from 30 feet high ladder but I don't get hurt. Why?

Asked by Neha on 11 May 2023


My friends called me Iron59 because my parents are a chemist and a mathematician. What is my real name?

Asked by Neha on 01 Sep 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.