Yes,

Corp wants their flawed in-house Window image repaired and solutions provided to the end user without using 3rd-party freeware or unlicensed software. Yet the high-lever IT folks ignore the situation and let you play "superman" to save the day.
On of the problems I have frequently encountered is that senior IT people are notoriously bad at preparing budgets. That means when something unexpected crops up there isn't the money for it. Hell, I once had to modify some virus code to distribute software because they wouldn't give me the money for a proper remote deployment tool.

Another thing is that the high level execs frequently show a reckless disregard for the structure and delegated responsibilities within their departments. Basically, I mean that the top jobs are taken, so the next level down (who are usually the ones with the knowledge and hands on responsibility) have to move out to move up. If there is only one person with the knowledge then this can cause real problems like with the corporate desktop image and with individual applications support.

Personally, I have no problems with using open source and freeware and would quite cheerfully use a fully functional evaluation copy of licensed software.

After all, if the software proves useful the corp might just buy it *cough* *cough*

Telling lusers that corp image isn't exactly like your copy of windows at home is considered an insult. They don't like being "sandboxed" or being told what they can or cannot do. Often it's the same folks complaining, complaining about nothing.
About the only place I haven't come across that is when I was working in the armaments industry. I had 5 machines: 2 for the network, 2 stand alone ones for development and one stand alone for legacy systems support. We also had "reference machines" to test for new software and upgrade compatibility. Everything was locked down, and nobody dared to complain

In "normal" environments the average user has no idea of security, regulatory compliance, systems stability or anything else much.

IT should be considered godly
Well I wouldn't put it quite that strongly but I take your point. Would you employ a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant or an architect and then ignore their advice? It happens far too frequently in IT in my experience.