I have a friend I went to high school with who now lives hundreds of miles away in the DFW area. I used to freak him out, when we hadn't talked in months, by saying that I hear you're now back working at such and such making this much money and you're buying a house for this much money, etc.
He was like "WHERE are you getting all this information?!?!"
I was not stalking him or anything. But he was a bit too talkative.
He would tell his buddy, who would tell this woman back home who had been a high school teacher to both of them and who they stay in contact with. This teacher is one of my mom's best friends. So I got all the details of his life, fourth hand, and repeated back to him what I'd heard. It always amazed him how this personal information got around.
We went to school in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business, small enough that you recognize most of the cars in the grocery store parking lot, can name the owners and know where they live and where they work and whether or not their kids are trouble in school, etc. I've had a couple of talks with my mom about telling people things about me that I thought were none of their business. People would ask her where I am now and what I'm doing, just making friendly small talk, and she'd tell them more than I was confortable with.
.
