Nirodh wrote:

and since I was inbound from north I asked for a straight in approach,
which was approved by AFIS.

AFIS must not approve anything. AFIS is pure informational without any
authority. If AFIS used the word "approved", he screwed up, which occurs
surprizingly often. (To our US-based friends: AFIS doesn't exist in the
USA.)

Does things like those happen that frequently?

Yes. The first rule for pilots is "never assume", i.e. never assume that
the other pilots will act reasonably.

Stefan