Manager demands worker send her coworkers home early during the holiday weekend, yells at her for doing so: 'I asked 2 people to leave at 1:30pm. We close at 5:00pm, and from 4:30 to 5:00 we got slammed.'

She did exactly what her boss asked her to do, and she got punished for it.

There's nothing more tedious than working a retail job when there are no customers to speak of. If you've ever worked one of these positions, you know that employees are often encouraged to make themselves busy with whatever they possibly can. They are instructed to restock merchandise even if the shelves are as stacked as they can be. They are forced to look busy, even if that is the furthest thing from what they are. If there are no customers in the store, is it really a crime to sit at the cash register and read a little bit to pass the time instead of trying to fill every rack with as many hangers as possible? Establishing such a policy would probably help with employee retention, which is how you know that most employers will never do it. 

If your business is overstaffed for the number of customers who actually come in, your employees might appreciate being sent home early so they don't lose brain cells staring at the wall for 4 hours. If you send home employees early, there is always a chance that a bunch of customers will come in as soon as they leave, but that's the risk you take when you intentionally understaff your business! If you send your employees home because you don't want to pay them what they deserve, then you're just as bad as the boss in this story.