Ferndale officer drops $20 in tip jar drained by thieves

FERNDALE, Mich. (WJBK) - An employee at Easy Like Sundae in downtown Ferndale serves you up ice cream sundaes, and even sings for tips. But she says a couple of crooks stole her hard-earned cash right off the counter.

Jessica Kobel sings in a band at weddings, parties and live shows. But she also needs the income plus tips at the ice cream shop.

Two men and a woman loaded up three extra large sundaes and began to check out - and complain.

"After they learned the total, the woman bolted out the front door and he complained that it was expensive. I explained to him you just order 42 ounces of frozen yogurt; it's going to be a little more than five dollars," she says.

The $23 dollar tab was paid, but what Jessica didn't notice is one of the them ripped off the inside of this tip cup. About $15 was in there when she last checked.

"I was just really upset," she says. "I know it's a trivial amount of money, considering it's $13-15 dollars, but it was my grocery money for the week and I had already planned out what I was going to make."

She called Ferndale Police and two officers responded.

But then, Jessica, heartbroken at the tip can robbery, was suddenly overwhelmed with joy -- one of the officers actually put a twenty dollar bill in the tip cup.

"I was overcome with emotion. I just wanted to cry. I looked at my coworker and said, 'All I want to do is be on my couch with my cats and crying right now,'" she says.

And the sign says any tip over a dollar gets a song - you can watch Ron Savage's report in the video player above to hear Jessica's song for Ferndale Police.