Yeah, that occurred to me, too. A retired Navy officer told me the same thing happens in the service: the captain walks onto the ship and nonchalantly mentions that a small piece of debris needs to be swept up, it gets passed along and exaggerated down the line, and before you know it, half the ship is being scrubbed and repainted.(S)he asks a couple of things and you go, "Oh, I really like XYZ, or I was a little bit miffed when that guy did ABC". Next thing you know, the rider reads 'MUST have 20 x XYZs in the room' or 'all persons are BANNED from doing ABC in Tasky's presence, on pain of death'.