I had similar questions for a SRE position at google a few years back in fact, so I found it interesting and does not surprise me.
I eventually refused the position without going on-site just because of how ridiculous the questions/replies were (and frankly, because I had another good offer elsewhere, but it did contribute greatly).
While my experience wasn't as bad by a long stretch, I can see how this is plausible. In particular I immediately figured out that the recruiter wasn't very technically inclined, had a "heres a list of correct responses" spreadsheet to help him, and had very little time to waste.
Due to taking that into account - I was always accommodating instead of confrontational (which got me more interviews, which were better/with real engineers, yay - though not great either). Had I been confrontational, pointing out mistakes and misunderstandings, I'm sure it'd have gone pretty bad.
I eventually refused the position without going on-site just because of how ridiculous the questions/replies were (and frankly, because I had another good offer elsewhere, but it did contribute greatly).
While my experience wasn't as bad by a long stretch, I can see how this is plausible. In particular I immediately figured out that the recruiter wasn't very technically inclined, had a "heres a list of correct responses" spreadsheet to help him, and had very little time to waste.
Due to taking that into account - I was always accommodating instead of confrontational (which got me more interviews, which were better/with real engineers, yay - though not great either). Had I been confrontational, pointing out mistakes and misunderstandings, I'm sure it'd have gone pretty bad.