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Can anyone solve this riddle?

A bank is getting robbed and one of the robbers tells one of the tellers to give him all of the money. The teller tells him she doesn't have access to it.

Suddenly the phone rings. The robber tells the teller to answer it and not give them away. She picks up the phone and it happens to be her mother. She tells her mother "Is this an emergency mom? Call me when I get home, I could use some help painting." Then she hangs up.

The robbers continue to try to get into the vault but twenty minutes later the police show up with the tellers mom and arrest them all.

How did the police know about the robbery?

*If anyone can solve this answer will get a up-vote and tick!

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    $\begingroup$ Is this your own work? The style of writing doesn't seem to agree with your question and title, causing me to suspect otherwise. If you got this puzzle from somewhere else, you are required give credit to that. Also, I've edited the tags to be more appropriate. $\endgroup$
    – Lolgast
    Feb 1, 2018 at 14:23
  • $\begingroup$ what!? can we ask questions from the net? yea including credits? $\endgroup$
    – A Cool Guy
    Feb 1, 2018 at 14:25
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    $\begingroup$ @ACoolGuy You reference the book that you bought. $\endgroup$
    – LeppyR64
    Feb 1, 2018 at 14:40
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    $\begingroup$ "Teller tells on after robber tells teller not to tell. Story at six." $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Feb 1, 2018 at 15:19
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    $\begingroup$ I think there are too many ways the Mother could know something was off. Teller still lives with Mom, teller is allergic to paint, teller lives in a tent, teller doesn't have a phone at home, teller just finished painting, teller hates painting, teller is blind... $\endgroup$
    – Hugh Meyers
    Feb 1, 2018 at 16:17

7 Answers 7

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The teller just had to

Use the mute button to just say " - emergency mom - Call - help"

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    $\begingroup$ This is probably the right answer to the overly broad question. $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Feb 1, 2018 at 15:17
  • $\begingroup$ I don't know, to me the real question feels like, how is it possible that her mom called at this exact moment? This is the puzzling part $\endgroup$
    – Florian Bourse
    Feb 1, 2018 at 15:20
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    $\begingroup$ @FlorianBourse It's a mom. If you're bored and doing nothing they won't call, but as soon as you're busy... there they are. $\endgroup$
    – Oak
    Feb 1, 2018 at 15:43
  • $\begingroup$ almost near to the answer, so I am gonna think $\endgroup$
    – A Cool Guy
    Feb 1, 2018 at 16:33
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Is this an emergency mom? Call me when I get home, I could use some help painting

She had pre-arranged the two code phrases bolded above with her mother in case a call was being made under duress, similar to how some parents have code words agreed with their children.

Given the nature of the daughter's profession, the equally sharp mother realized it was a professional emergency and alerted the police.

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Another possibility is that

the teller lives with her mother, who would then realize from the fact that the teller's words make no sense that something must be wrong.

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I could use some help painting is the most likely key phrase.

If the teller could not possibly need help painting, that would tip the mom off. For example, if the teller recently moved and the new place is freshly painted. >! Or, say if the teller recently finished repainting and the mom knows that.

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She obviously pressed the silent alarm button. The call was just co-incidence!

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    $\begingroup$ That doesn't explain why the tellers mom is with the cops! $\endgroup$
    – Saeïdryl
    Feb 1, 2018 at 15:55
  • $\begingroup$ She was probably just worried after she didn't come home for dinner though. I would be suspicious and go to her job to check it out. Another happy co-incidence! $\endgroup$
    – Totumus Maximus
    Feb 1, 2018 at 15:57
  • $\begingroup$ Her mom arrived twenty minutes after the call, that's a little fast to worry for dinner ;) $\endgroup$
    – Saeïdryl
    Feb 1, 2018 at 16:02
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    $\begingroup$ You clearly haven't met my mom xD $\endgroup$
    – Totumus Maximus
    Feb 1, 2018 at 18:04
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20 minutes seems like an unusually long time for the police to respond to an active bank robbery, which leads me to believe

the mother didn't immediately call the police.

This leads me to the conclusion that

the teller was at the end of her shift. When her mother called her home number 20 minutes later and the teller didn't answer, she knew her daughter was in trouble and called the police.

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She used several key words. Emergency Call and mentions painting as an alert

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