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When I was younger, I was really put off by the idea of having to provide estimates for tasks that I'd never done before. Now I realize that the manager really just needs to put a number into their schedule so they have something to take back to the bean counters, and a number coming from me is going to be at least slightly more accurate than one they pull completely out of the air by themselves.

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His manager was definitely a power-move playing prick (although probably this way because he himself was insecure within the organization) and, unfortunately, they are exactly the sorts of people who turn estimates into deadlines. Decent managers don't say "I need this by end of day" unless the project really is company-existential.

If the manager was asking in good faith, he'd have explained why he was asking for the estimate and what decisions would be made based on it, and give the employee allowances to give timeframes that no one would he held to... but it doesn't seem like he was that kind of person.

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