"In those days, the managers were more prestigious. It was more of a fun job than it is now," Gillette says, adding that he also played a little golf and "drank a lot too much."

After graduation, Gillette worked for Harvard in the alumni area for 23 years. The father of four, Gillette now serves as his class chair. In this role, he has organized his share of luncheons as well as his class's 50th reunion.

"I was looking for something to do after retirement," Gillette says of his volunteer job. "It's all about being nice to the people and giving them the kind of information they are looking for."

"You don't know what is going to come up, but you want to be nice to them," Gillette says. "You want them to think that the people of Cambridge are nice."

Most people ask Gillette what he calls fairly simple questions concerning things like bus schedules, directions within Cambridge and the best place to get a quality sandwich.

Equipped with at least 20 different kinds of maps and years of experience, Gillette says that he can usually answer whatever question he is asked.

"They ask a lot of directions because they think that we're tied in with the T," Gillette says. "Our goal is to get them where they want to go without getting them lost."

In an hour-long interview interrupted about every two minutes, Gillette directed passers-by to the best local French restaurant, pointed out Harvard to confused tourists, and even warned one man that the John F. Kennedy birthplace in Brookline was "not very impressive no matter how much you want to see it."

But every once in a while, Gillette gets a question that even he and his storehouse of Cambridge reference materials just can't answer.

"One time a man asked me for a map of San Francisco," says Gillette. "I don't know what he was thinking, but I told him that he could either go across the street and buy one at the Coop or he could go to San Francisco and get one there."

"I don't know what he did in the end," he says.

Gillette isn't alone in his efforts to help Cambridge tourists. The information center--open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., seven days a week--is staffed by a group of about 10 volunteers.

"I don't think you could find a more diverse group," says Gillette, referring to his fellow volunteers. "When we have occasion to get together, it always intrigues me that we are all doing the same thing. We all want to help people."

Gillette says he sees himself working in the Square for as long as he is needed.

"It's a service to the community. Sometimes you get someone who's really lost or who really needs your help," Gillette says. "You help them, and it makes you feel good. It's a better feeling than telling someone where the post office is."

"Volunteering here is something you can really put your arm around and at the same time get a kick out of what you're doing," Gillette says.