The part that I’m struggling with is so: in what universe, even the one with maximum cynicism, would this cost the manager anything? Like, will corporate come down on them because they had extra charges for a defective door this quarter? Will promotions not happen because of this?

Surely it can’t be lost sales that are the issue… they were willing to have the store closed until late afternoon of the next day. They were going to lose out on those anyway.

I suspect when we see circumstances like this, some proto-reptilian embarrassment reaction is kicking in deep in their brain. Even ignoring the inconvenience, risk to safety of, and well-being of their employee… there’s just no upside to waiting this out. No money saved, no sales saved, nothing.