Brain Teasers
The Blind Man and His Milk
Situation
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.Situation
A blind man walks into a grocery store to buy some milk. On his way in, he slips on a water puddle and plows into another shopper. He politely apologizes and starts to mosey along. A short time after that, he finds the refrigerator containing the milk and proceeds to the counter with his purchase. He pays with a 10 dollar bill and tells the cashier, after receiving his change, that he should be getting more money back than what the cashier gave him. The cashier, noting that the man was blind, said that he must be mistaken - he gave him back 7 dollars, because his milk cost 3. The blind man realized his mistake, thanked the cashier and went on his way.
What had he realized that he had done wrong?
What had he realized that he had done wrong?
Answer
After the man realized he had paid with a 10, he left the store and phoned the police. He realized that the shopper had pickpocketed him and stolen his 20 dollar bill, leaving him with only a 10. Normally he would have noticed the difference because he folds his money in different forms so he knows what's what, but when he slipped on the puddle, he dropped the money from his pockets and, trusting the stranger to have given him back all of his money, he went on his way. The other shopper had noticed how the man folded his money and quickly folded the 10 differently, stealing 20 dollars from him. Shortly after he left the store, the man was caught by the police thanks to the help of the cashier who knew the man personally.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
poor guy!
Nice story telling -- I think you could have the shopper sybstitute a quickly folded $5 bill so the count of bills would not tip the blind man off early in your problem (you could have him count his bills in the story line when he gets his money back to deepen the mystery)..I can see this being really tuff to guess but fun!
I thought the price of milk had changed... that the blind man was waiting for coins.
thanks for the comments. i think i accidently put someone's comment as innappropriate. i hit it and didn't mean to. hope you understand. but thanks. !
i thought the blind guy thought he'd get 7 one-dollar bills but instead the cashier gave him a five and 2 ones...it was hard but i liked it
answer seems too complicated for the story - assumes a lot that isn't there...maybe if you elaborated slightly in the story it'd be a bit better, otherwise a good idea!
Shouldn't we be asking questions in our comments.
i didn't get it at first but then i got it
How do you come up with this stuff??
woah...this is so so so confusing. i get so mixed up with everything. i had reread it over 10 times and i still don't get it. i even tried drawing a couple diagrams and i still don't get it. could anyone help?
nice
I agree with Sweetime, way too many things being thrown in at the end. We have no reference to his money being folded, that he had it in his hand, no way to guess that.
the pick pocket idea is a stretch since the blind man slipped and fell into the pick pocket. What are the odds of that? It'd be better if the blind man was just walking and was bumped by someone.
the pick pocket idea is a stretch since the blind man slipped and fell into the pick pocket. What are the odds of that? It'd be better if the blind man was just walking and was bumped by someone.
true. i'll try to come up with a better one next time, but thanks to everyone who has commented so far. i really appreciate your feedback.
I was able to come up with the mistake of a $10 instead of $20 but the rest of the answer...nope
hahahaha me too.
one of the worst teasers. absolutely stupid. there are many, many answers, and yours sounds like a story you came up with to entertain a child.
This teaser got me. My answer was that the blind man thought he was given only 3 one dollar bills and didn't realize that one of the bills was a five...robbery didn't cross my mind
I was thinking the blind man thought he should have gotten three bills - a five and two ones - but only received 2 - a five and a two dollar bill! That's why he thought there was a mistake.
Good teaser anyway....
Good teaser anyway....
i thought that he knew he had given the cashier 10 pounds but he woz waiting 4 the woman 2 give him 3 coins, but instead she gave him a 2 pound coin and a 1 pound coin. my bad. but i thought it woz well thought out and one great situation teaser. good 1 sarah.
Since when does milk cost $3? And how did the guy GET to the store if he was BLIND? hmm....
Bit of a stretch with the long answer. Interesting though - give us more Sarah.
I thought it was clever, and I got the folded money and the stolen part. But you left to much to guess. Slip in some more details! Otherwise- great!
GOT MORE!!!!
i waited half a year for an answer and i still don't get one.
i do not understand this. will someone give a better explanation, please?
i do not understand this. will someone give a better explanation, please?
not enough clues
complicated but nice
I meant to say that I really liked this teaser.
Explanation:
The blind man had folded all his money depending on the value.
10 folded like 10
20 folded like 20
Then he dropped it and a stranger helped pick up "all" of it,while folding a 10 the wrong way.
10 folded like 20
Stranger has 20
Then,he though he should be getting $17 back for $3 milk. He then realized that his 20 had been stolen by the stranger.
The cashier knew the stranger and arrested him.
The blind man had folded all his money depending on the value.
10 folded like 10
20 folded like 20
Then he dropped it and a stranger helped pick up "all" of it,while folding a 10 the wrong way.
10 folded like 20
Stranger has 20
Then,he though he should be getting $17 back for $3 milk. He then realized that his 20 had been stolen by the stranger.
The cashier knew the stranger and arrested him.
Well, I have to agree with the others, in that we needed to know a little bit more in order to get the answer. There was a whole lot unexplained until we got given the answer. Sorry, but I just thought it was too complicated.
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