Brain Teasers
Hostage
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 man named Mr.Shortemper had a job at a business that makes designs for and produces kabob sticks. The company, even though very successful, was losing money and needed to downsize some of the workers. Mr.Shortemper was one of the workers who was fired.
Mr.Shortemper had a very, very short temper. He lost it all the time. What he decided to do was go after the company's president, Mr.Wisewithmoney. He didn't know what the president or his family looked like, but he knew the address where he lived. He broke into the house one day and took Mr.Wisewithmoney's wife and daughter hostage. The president was informed, and got to his house as soon as possible. He asked for the bullhorn the police had, and said one thing that made Mr.Shortemper give up. What did he say?
Mr.Shortemper had a very, very short temper. He lost it all the time. What he decided to do was go after the company's president, Mr.Wisewithmoney. He didn't know what the president or his family looked like, but he knew the address where he lived. He broke into the house one day and took Mr.Wisewithmoney's wife and daughter hostage. The president was informed, and got to his house as soon as possible. He asked for the bullhorn the police had, and said one thing that made Mr.Shortemper give up. What did he say?
Answer
The president told him that those people weren't his family, but rather his maid and the maid's daughter. Mr.Shortemper, not knowing what his family looked like, thought he was telling the truth and decided he wouldn't get a point across by taking the maid and her daughter hostage. Of course he was arrested and put into a psychiatric hospital.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
Good job tinman. Don't think I would want to be a househkeeper in that house!
Welcome froggy. Yeah, Mr.Wisewithmoney had better start paying his maids more money if that'll happen!
Good one.
I actually got this one right! I was surprised because it was the only thing I could think of so I decided to check (expecting to be wrong!) Good use of lateral thinking!
Good one!
Good one! I liked it!
If Hothead can't tell the difference between the maid and the lady of the house, he deserves to be tricked into a visit to the funny farm. But even in these well educated and egalitarian days, it's not hard to tell the maid from her mistress. And it's even easier to spot the difference in the daughters- or haven't you ever talked to a snotty rich kid? Not sure this one works.
Well, most of us don't base our thinking on steryotypes. And obviously it does work; there is a reason it got accepted.
I liked it and don't let the unckle get ya, I don't think I have ever seen a good comment from him!!
That's confusing: I assumed that if he said one thing that it was, like, one word. Also, if Mr. Shorttemper did not know what Mr. Wisewithmoney's family looked like, couldn't it be equally possible that if Mr. Wisewithmoney knew this, that he was bluffing?
Most people have portraits & pictures of the family around the house. Wouldn't that tip him off that the woman & child were the right family?
Mr. Wisewithmoney could have been lying though just to get his wife and daughter (who HAD been taken hostage) back. Well, good teaser!
What puzzles me is, if the company was so successful, why did it have to lay off workers? Is Mr Wisewithmoney embezzling? So I thought, perhaps he tells him that he is pleading guilty to fraud and the company won't have to sack people. It won't help the hostage taker himself but his buddies are rescued so he gives in.
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