My physics prof said g is actually a vector field. Because the acceleration has a direction and both magnitude and direction vary from point to point.
An unnecessary complication if you're dropping a brick out of a window.
If you did it "properly" you would calculate the orbit of the brick (assuming earth was a point mass), then find the intersection between that orbit and earth's surface. But for small speeds and distances you can just assume g points down as it would in a flat earth
In other words, we assume spherical cows until that approximation no longer works.