When you have no education, no skills, no employment history, and a criminal record, your two basic options are working for cash in substandard conditions or joining the Foreign Legion.  If you don't speak French, your choices are limited.  Realistically, a lot of the carnival workers I saw when I was wasting my life showing cows were of pretty limited mental capacity.  They really didn't have everything working in synch.  Some of them rode in the carnival's truck, and slept in one of the game booths.  Meals were from the concessions.  All in all it isn't much of a life; really one step above being homeless.  Some of the concession owners were astute businessmen, but their business model demanded very low cost labor.