What kind of joke is "Windows needs to restart to finish installing updates" at midnight?

There is nothing quite like getting ready to go to sleep at midnight, only for Windows to announce that it needs to restart to finish installing updates, as if my computer has suddenly decided that bedtime is the perfect time for a surprise maintenance session. What kind of joke is this supposed to be, especially when I have unsaved work open and no desire to wait around for another twenty minutes while the screen displays a percentage that barely moves?