But though Freedman worries that "the golden years are being transformed into the Wal-Mart decade," he does acknowledge that the retail industry provides benefits, flexibility and jobs, particularly for less-educated workers.
And there are few places better than this big-box store halfway between San Francisco and San Jose to see the effect of older employees in the workplace and few guides better than Gumbert and his colleagues.
Home Depot will not divulge complete statistics on how many older workers stride the concrete floors of its huge home-improvement stores, but the number is on the rise. The company hooked up with AARP four years ago to woo a sales force that might otherwise be golfing and says it now has 5,000 employees over 70.
They are loyal and dependable, said Tim Crow, chief human resources officer for the Atlanta-based firm. "We look at the demographics, and everyone is getting older. This is the future workforce."
In San Carlos, nearly a score of the 200-plus employees are 60 and over, from Irene Goble, 61, whose quarter-century as a bartender left retirement an unaffordable luxury -- "I'm gonna be here till I'm 70 in my walker" -- to Coy Deal, 72, a former Silicon Valley electrical engineer who was laid off in his late 60s.
Their reasons for regularly punching the time clock in the locker-lined employee break room include "have to," "want to" and everything in between.
Gumbert would place himself in the middle of that spectrum, a German-accented mix of need and desire. Gumbert spent most of his work life in the hotel industry, rising from waiter to director of food, beverages and catering at venues such as the San Francisco Hilton.
But by the time he hit his early 50s, the wear and tear were beginning to show. The days stretched to 18 hours. The phone would ring in the middle of the night. Contemporaries began having heart attacks and worse.
Gumbert switched to restaurant work, then left the hospitality field "cold turkey" in search of a job at which he could "punch in and punch out. I don't want to be called at 2 in the morning."
A newspaper ad led him to the company formerly known as Color Tile. When it went belly up, he landed at Home Depot. Nearly 11 years later he is still here in the San Carlos store, cutting carpet swatches, calling customers to cement deals, guiding do-it-your-selfers through the complexities of home renovation.
