Another Sad Tale of an Underemployed Lawyer: This One Is a Topless Dancer

A law grad who lost her legal job has turned to another profession to pay the bills: topless dancing.

The woman is identified as Carla, her stage name, in a profile by MSNBC’s Redtape Chronicles. She graduated from a West Coast law school 10 years ago and worked in the legal profession until she was laid off in 2009.

After her job loss, Carla worked as a waitress and a cashier in a gas station, the story says. Then she sought part-time work when she went back to school to earn a master’s degree. “No one was hiring, except for the topless places," she said. “It was an act of desperation.”

At first she worked in a topless club as a waitress, but moved into dancing to make more money. The pay is about $20 an hour on an average day and $50 an hour on a good weekend night.

There is another benefit to the job: Carla says her co-workers are a lot nicer than those she had in the legal profession. "I thought the other women I worked with would be competitive and not supportive. We are fighting over the same dollars," she said. "But my female co-workers are the best co-workers I've ever had."

Hat tip to Above the Law.