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

If all Goats are Sheep and all Sheep are Deers, are all Deers Goats ?

Asked by Neha on 16 Jan 2021


A wealthy man lives alone in a small cottage. Being partially handicapped he had everything delivered to his cottage. The mailman was delivering a letter one Thursday when he noticed that the front door was ajar. Through the opening he could see the man's body lying in a pool of dried blood. When a police officer arrived he surveyed the scene. On the porch were two bottles of warm milk, Monday's newspaper, a catalog, flyers, and unopened mail. The police officer suspects it was foul play. Who does he suspect and why?

Murder Mystery Puzzle

Asked by Neha on 07 Apr 2021

This is a most unusual paragraph. How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about it? It looks so ordinary, you'd think nothing was wrong with it. Actually, nothing IS wrong with it. But it is not as ordinary as you might think. If you think about it for a bit, you will find out why it is truly so unusual. So what is it? What is so unordinary about this paragraph?

Asked by Neha on 02 May 2022


Can you find out the smallest number that can be conveyed as the sum of three squares in three unique ways?

Asked by Neha on 27 Aug 2023

What is the value of 1/2 of 2/3 of 3/4 of 4/5 of 5/6 of 6/7 of 7/8 of 8/9 of 9/10 of 1000?

Asked by Neha on 26 Sep 2021

There was a blind man. He had four socks in his drawer either black or white. He opened it and took out two socks. Now the probability that it was a pair of white socks is 1/2.

Can you find out the probability that he had taken out a pair of black socks ?

Asked by Neha on 19 Mar 2023


A man escapes from jail using help from his girlfriend. The investigators suspect four girls of being the man's girlfriend.

Out of those four girls, one is his girlfriend who is lying. Two of the girls are completely innocent and are speaking the truth. One of the girls is the man's sister who is helping the girlfriend lie. Following are the statements from all four of them:

Ariana: "Myrna is his girlfriend."
Jane: "Angelina is lying."
Angelina: "Ariana is lying."
Myrna: "Jane is not his sister."

Can you find out who is the man's sister among them?

Asked by Neha on 27 Mar 2026

A boy was driving a car, a girl took a lift from her. She asked his name. The boy said - my name is hidden in my car’s number, find it if you can. After this, she got down Car number was [ WV733N ] Can you guess the name now?

Asked by Neha on 22 Mar 2024

Imagine you are in a room with no windows or doors. How will you get out?

Asked by Neha on 25 Oct 2025


I am a type of vehicle that has two wheels and is powered by humans. What am I?
Hint 1: You can ride me for exercise.
Hint 2: I am environment-friendly.

Asked by Neha on 01 Oct 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Challenging

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