Brain Teasers
Telephone Problem
Mystery
Mystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.Mystery
A woman depended on a public telephone to make her calls, but it was usually out of order. Each day she reported this to the phone company, but nothing was done. Finally she came up with a fib that she told the phone company. The phone was fixed the next day. What did she tell them?
Answer
She told them that people were making calls without having to pay.Show Hint Hide Answer
What Next?
View a Similar Brain Teaser...
If you become a registered user you can vote on this brain teaser, keep track of which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
Solve a Puzzle
Comments
Hey good one! Thanks for the hint. You are so right lol.
That was cool.
Sounds so true! 
dumb dumb dumb
seems familiar to me heard it somewhere =P nice though
I didn't get it and thought it was a clever riddle 
but wouldn't the company notice that she was wrong when they got there? or think that if a phone was making calls for free why would the lady report it? or maybe they are too greedy to think about stuff or maybe i'm over complicating again
That was a really good one. Maybe if we did that too, alot more stuff would get done!
whoa 
smart lady
Good one!!!
or maybe the woman could also have called to say that coins were coming out of the public telephone?
Loved IT!
It was ok. Not the best not the worst. (i knew it had something to do with money)
Even if they got there and saw the broken phone *didn't* allow free calls, they may as well repair it.
funny
I was confused in the beginning, but the hint really helped. Great teaser!
Great teaser!
Not much of a mystery to me. That was the only logical answer.
Uh, how did she report the phone being out of order if it didn't work in the first place???
I'm with Brandon and Babyblue
That's funny babyblue! Hahaha!
She walked 3 blocks in the snow to the next closest pay phone to report the other phone was out of order.
I knew it!!! That's how to get things done!!!
i got it! keep logic teasers coming!
I didn't know the answer, but I loved the teaser. That was a smart woman. We all know the phone company wouldn't give away anything free on purpose. Thanks for posting.
Monday~
Monday~
very easy, but good concept!
Good one! Ya stumped me. But then . . . 
Nice teaser! Once you read the hint, its pretty simple... make more!
It was more a joke than a teaser, but very cute. Made me laugh.
why didnt she just start using the phone that she used to call the phone company and report it??? ... otherwise it was pretty simple to answer
... otherwise it was pretty simple to answer
This was a cute one The clue gave it away though 
The clue gave it away though
maybe she didnt call the phone company to complain. she could have written or emailed or even actually got to the companys building. If they got there and noticed she lied then why wouldnt they fix it anyway or, maybe they didnt even look at it maybe the company just took it out and put in a new phone.
i didnt really like it that much
hey adrianlvr1123 that was a good one
yeah cause that was a brain teaser....
honestly.
honestly.
Hey adrian, that was uncalled for!!! Stop bashing other peoples teasers and go make some of your own. Maybe then somebody will give you a taste of your own medicine!!!
And you too, rush and ragdoll...go take your negativity somewhere else!
Nice teaser. What's a public telephone?
cute, and I agree with the person above they are going out of style, aren't they?
they are going out of style, aren't they?
This one still makes me laugh.
I didn't get that one at all! It was sort of boring
This was dumb...
I thought maybe she lowered her voice and said she was a man calling! Course I didn't read the hint... Thought it was clever.
Thought it was clever.
I think the whole idea behind this one was very creative & I liked it. Nice one.
Good
The answer was way to obvious.
Pretty simple if you put even a second of thought into it.
To answer the question about why she would report it to the phone company if it were true, some people are HONEST. I am the person who questions a bill at a register not because it is too high, but because it is too low. I dispute marks I didn't earn etc There is such a thing as karma and doing what is right.
When we were teenagers, my sister and her friends figured out a way to get the pay phone to return your quarter after you finished your call (in essence allowing you to make a free call). She told my mother about it. Ma then passed the info (and how they were doing it) along to her superiors at Bell. Not only did she get a letter of commendation, but she got a $1500.00 thank you bonus. Sure not a lot of money to Bell but still a nice gesture they could have just fixed the problem and not acknowledged her at all.
To answer the question about why she would report it to the phone company if it were true, some people are HONEST. I am the person who questions a bill at a register not because it is too high, but because it is too low. I dispute marks I didn't earn etc There is such a thing as karma and doing what is right.
When we were teenagers, my sister and her friends figured out a way to get the pay phone to return your quarter after you finished your call (in essence allowing you to make a free call). She told my mother about it. Ma then passed the info (and how they were doing it) along to her superiors at Bell. Not only did she get a letter of commendation, but she got a $1500.00 thank you bonus. Sure not a lot of money to Bell but still a nice gesture they could have just fixed the problem and not acknowledged her at all.
True if given the phone company is uncaring and greedy- Good & funny.
Thanks, HABS, I liked your story. Didn't get the teaser, but enjoyed it.
too easy 
The teaser was simple and easy, but I liked it. I also liked Habs's story, and it was a lot of money back then, and still is today to some for such a simple gesture. Thanks for the story Habs
A little too easy, but still a bit of fun for an early morning.
This could be placed in the *Logic* category. Makes sense. ðŸ‘ðŸ»
This could be placed in the *Logic* category. Makes sense. ðŸ‘ðŸ»
Teaser was meh. And I'm not sure I'm buying HABS' story. A $1500 bonus just for reporting one pay phone? Back whenever he/she was a teenager. That doesn't seem like something a big company like that would do. A pat on the back, maybe, but 1500 bucks was a lot back then!
Follow Braingle!