I have often said Buffalo is not so much a small city but a big living room.  I can not tell you how many times I am introduced to a person unknown to me before that introduction and inside of 30 seconds we find we have common friends or acquaintances.  Now take that premise and apply it to a casual conversation at a diner, elevator or sporting event.

It is not hard to imagine (or recall) an instance in which you have gone to dinner in a crowded restaurant and were seated next to a group of people unknown to you.  You can't help but overhear bits and pieces of their conversation.  Now imagine the conversation turns to a business transaction negatively impacting the company for which your brother-in-law works.  You mention the conversation to your brother-in-law, he mentions it to his boss, and the course of the business transaction turns favorably to the company.  It may sound like Hollywood.  It is not.  It is Buffalo.