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On Monday, a Redditor using the name "Menagerii" made office workers around the Internet drool after posting a picture of what she said was the cash she made in one day's stripping. The photo, posted to the r/pics subreddit, was captioned, "From now on when people ask me why I'm a stripper, I'm just going to show them this picture (one day of work- 1130am to 3am)."
Redditors counting at home soon realized the tips totaled over $3,000. MSN claims the number is actually $3,445. Although this is about twice what Menagerii said she normally takes in, $1,500 a night (give or take) isn't anything to sneeze at, either.
The tantalizing stack of bills was earned during a 15-plus hour shift at an all-nude joint in Atlanta, according to Menagerii. Over the course of the day, Menagerii said she had "30 or so table dances and five stage sets." A stripper for four years, she also revealed she has implants ("went from a 32b to a 32d"), a six pack and is working to put herself through engineering school.
While impossible to substantiate independently, Menagerii has written about her experiences as a stripper before. Last month, she hosted an Ask Me Anything on Reddit in which she spilled other tips and tricks of her trade.
"It's a little awkward at first, but I got used to it," she wrote. "I have always been open about my body, so most of my friends and lots of strangers had already seen me naked before I even started dancing. Some girls have to drink a lot before they are comfortable, even girls that have been dancing for years. I was fortunate to be naturally outgoing and open minded."
Even if $3,000 a night is not the norm, research has shown exotic dancing can be a lucrative profession. A 2007 study conducted by an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico showed strippers could earn around $30 per hour, while a 2010 study out of England put an average U.K. stripper's yearly salary at around $74,000.
And savvy strippers would do well to follow the money. In 2011, CNN Money reported that dancers in the oil boomtown of Williston, N.D., were making $2,000 to $3,000 a night.
At the end of the day, Reddit's most famous stripper's advice to aspiring dancers is simple.
"You have to be in good shape, quick witted, confident, and have a pretty face. Everything else follows," she wrote.
It seems The Wall Street Journal's Best and Worst Jobs of 2013 list may need an update.