Reduced rake for short-handed table

[ninjaunderwear]

Playing 4/8 Limit today, 9-handed. Two players were away from my table and one player was racking his chips about to leave; nobody on the waitlist so I decided to pack up as well. As I was racking my chips, the dealer starting dealing to the remaining 5 players at the table. One of the players called over a floor and asked if the hand could have a reduced rake of $3 (instead of the normal $5) since the hand was being dealt five handed. The floor quickly allowed it.

First time I'd ever heard this. Anybody else ever seen anything like this?