Job -Turned - Social Experiment

I quit.
Well, actually what I did was tell the shift supervisor last night that I am going to quit after next week. I said that I just don't have the stamina required to do the job and each day I feel exhausted a little earlier than the day before. I said that I appreciated the opportunity to work there but I am not fit for the job. I said I will work another week to give them time to find a replacement.
He was very understanding. He asked if I would be interested in doing something else at the resort. I said, "maybe", but left it at that. When I go in tomorrow, I will talk with the HR specialist about it.
Apparently this job has a reputation for taking casualties. Several people I met for the first time on Friday and Saturday asked how long I have worked there. When I said, "3 days", they said, "That makes you an old-timer!"
This experience has been a real eye-opener for me on socio-economic stratification in our society. I have gained enormous respect and sympathy for the Mexican, Cuban, and Peruvian men who do that job every day, year after year. Respect for their stamina and strong work ethic, but sympathy because it is the only kind of work they can get.
When word spread that I had thrown in the towel, Enrique came over and tried to talk me out of it. He said that I just need time to build up stamina and learn the easy way to do hard work instead of the hard way to do easy work. At some point in the conversation he asked if I washed dishes someplace else before coming to the resort. I said, "No. I was an air traffic controller for 34 years." Enrique threw his head back and said, "Oh my God! Go get another job! You don't need to be doing this for $9.00 an hour!" Then he said something that stuck. He said, "I don't speak very good English and I am not white, so this is all I can do. But YOU don't have to do this."
He's right. I don't have to bust my butt in a 115-degree steam bath for seven hours and forty-five minutes out of an eight-hour day for $9.00/hour. Yet that is the only kind of work available for him and the rest of the Spanish-speaking crew . That's exploitation, pure and simple. Some days, they work up to 12 hours! Ernesto told me that he worked from 2:00 PM on Thursday until 2:00 AM on Friday, then came back in at 6:00 AM on Friday and worked until 3:00 PM. To me, that's obscene. To him, it was a chance to earn more money!
Two days next week I am scheduled for shifts that are identified as 3:00PM - CLOSING. I really don't like that open-ended finish time. I have no idea who determines that it's time to close the dish washing station. Maybe that's routine in the food industry but it doesn't feel right. I shall add that experience to my list when the time comes.
From now on, I'm looking at this job as a social experiment. It is my opportunity walk in another man's shoes - albeit on a slippery floor with an arm-full of steaming hot plates - to broaden my understanding and appreciation for those who are clearly less fortunate than I. Maybe I can do something worthwhile for them one day.