Do Your Kids Do This?

Elias is generally a happy guy...unless he gets downright mad, or if he is sick (which unfortunately is happening more and more these days). When this happens it has become almost comical to me because he insists on doing things, but then refuses to do them. So conversations go something like this:

Elias: "I want to unlock the car!"
Me: "OK, here are the keys."
Elias: "No, I don't want to unlock the car!"
Me: "OK, Mommy will do it."
Elias: "I want to unlock the car!"
Me: "OK, go ahead."
Elias: "No, I don't want to unlock the car!"
Repeat, over and over again (I think it could go on indefinitely)
Me: "This is your last chance if you want to unlock the car, go ahead."
Elias: "No, I don't want to unlock the car!"
Me: I unlock the car
Elias: "Waaaaaaaaaa, I wanted to unlock the car!", and he throws a giant fit until he decides to calm down (sometimes an hour later).

Knowing this is how it goes every time, we get to the giant fit much sooner since I know it is the only way to make progress. And sometimes I think it is kind of funny. I must say this is not at all what I expected Elias to do when he was upset. I guess I thought he would just demand unreasonable things, or hit (which he does do when he is mad sometimes) or something. What do your kids do when they are super crabby? Is it hard to keep a straight face?