I can completely understand his frustration with being put on the spot without much of a warning. I had applied for a data analyst position with a "Big 4" shop

I can completely understand his frustration with being put on the spot without much of a warning. I had applied for a data analyst position with a "Big 4" shop, and after an initial phone screen, was asked to come in for an "aptitude test". After probing for details, all I was told was that this test would be around data analysis in my domain (which happened to be retail banking credit risk), with no further details about the format or structure. Imagine my surprise when I came in, and realised it was a written test! That's right -- I had 40 minutes to write down detailed answers to questions on sheets of paper. One of these questions was a couple of tables and required me to write SQL queries that did a couple of operations on the tables. All with pencil and paper. I spent about 5 minutes of the allotted time just re-acquainting myself with the 'art' of penmanship, and ended up focusing more on legibility than content (my handwriting is atrocious, barely more than a chicken scrawl). Needless to say, I didn't get the job. And the kicker was, the HR chap said they would provide feedback on why I was unsuccessful, but never did, despite repeated follow-up attempts. Bah, humbug.