Sylvester Stallone told a story of an up and coming fighter in the movie Rocky. The boxer was dirt poor and just trying to find his way through life. He kept at it until he finally got his big break. That storyline was not that far from the life Stallone led before making it big. He was a struggling actor and had to take several jobs to make ends meet. One of the jobs he had was at New York’s Central Park Zoo.

The future box office draw wasn’t an animal trainer nor did he sell cotton candy at the concession stand. Those jobs would have been huge upgrades from what he really had to do. Stallone was lucky enough to nab the position of cleaning out the lion cages. You can only imagine how gross it had to be in there and that’s not even taking into consideration what they left behind after a good meal. And if you think that’s bad, it gets worse. He did this for the pay of just $1.12 an hour. How he reported into work every day is beyond me. You have to give him a lot of credit. When you hear someone say that they rose up from the bowels of life, remind them about Sylvester Stallone.