I was wondering why there was such an advanced zoom option, until I actually LOOKED. The detail you put in is IMPRESSIVE! And it's nice to find easter eggs like a man who rides what I think is a segway.
The timer for the day actually pauses while the anvil's talking! The timer's only running when you have the accept / reject options on your control panel.
Aside from clicking on them to get free A's, no. They're essentially a reward for playing actively, instead of pure idle.