"The fish can wait and my lunch cannot"

Overheard at the mercado, just before the midday break. A customer at the fish counter asked, "Can you do one more, please?" The man behind it said, "I can, but the fish can wait and my lunch cannot." She laughed, put her bag down, and said she would be back later. What happened: nothing, and nobody was upset. What I noted: shops here close for a long break, and a polite no can sound like a joke. I wrote it down under the heading Schedule.