Working on the weekends

Working on the weekend.
As a kid and young adult I remember hating working on the weekends. Everything happens on the weekends. All the fairs, parties, sales, everything. For some reason it never really bothered me to work at night though. When I was in the Navy my co-workers would pay me to take their night watch duties. I loved it. Everything was quiet and peaceful. Until one night. I walked into the office when my partner was getting off the phone with the XO. “What’s going on?” “I’m doing the Executive Recall.” Executive recall was serious. It had to be in order to justify waking up all the OIC’s at 1am. I later found out that a co-worker had barred himself into his home and shot himself when the police came through the door. I had no idea of all the problems he was going through and was surprised, to say the least, when I found out WHY. I never worked another night watch after that.
When I came to work at the hotel here on base I requested the midnight shift. My kids were old enough to be at home by themselves and wake up on time for school on their own. Mid shift also gets paid more money. Peace and quiet once again. Working on the weekends, though, is another story. As an (older) adult I don’t mind working on the weekends as much as I used to. It’s still when everything happens, and when my kids are out of school, but… At least if I am working I am not spending money. We all know that anything we can do to avoid overspending is a good thing, and I am making a little extra money as well.
After I went back to work after my extended maternity leave I wanted to go back on nights, but I could only do it while the older kids were on summer break so they could baby sit. I started out only working “on call”. Finally, I secured a baby sitter (Thank You, Anna) and asked my boss for more hours. I volunteered to work weekends in an effort to save a little money and not saddle Anna with having to babysit on the weekends. I’d much rather saddle my older kids with it & make them even more angry with me for daring to have another child! Soooooo, here I am, sitting here at work on a Saturday. Bug walked down with MJ so I could see her (& feed her) & then they went home to finish chores. It has been really busy today (but I have obviously found time to write this post). Sometimes I like it when it’s busy because the time goes by faster, but today I was looking forward to finishing my book (Round Robin – Elm Creek Quilts #2).
I was also planning on pumping today so I don’t spend all afternoon in pain – or end up sitting at work with a wet shirt. The problem with this is that I am the only one on shift. I don’t get a lunch break, or any other kind of break, and the only place that I can sit and pump has windows all around with our housekeeping staff constantly passing in front of them. They legally have to allow me a break to pump, and they are also supposed to provide somewhere that I can pump. I don’t think that will ever happen here. I am tempted to sit here at the front desk and do what I need to do & let the customers complain, but… I don’t think I am that brave.

What would you do?