That sounds like a pretty typical question to me. I've never asked it, but I've heard it in interviews a time or two, including the interview for my current gig. Common variations replace "difficult people" with "inappropriate/impossible requests" etc.
For the whole class of questions like this, you're generally much better off briefly retelling and analyzing a narrative about a past situation than jumping straight into the platitudes. As the great Admiral would point out, though, it's a trap - Don't go negative, and make sure your answer stresses the professionalism and calm, friendly manner you've dealt with these issues in the past.
Sean Crago
PS: My apologies for the blank message that preceded this - Gmail+tiny pipe glitch.
On 6/8/09, Sean Crago cragos@gmail.com wrote: