Anita’s Unisex

When it comes to getting a haircut, this place is a pretty dern good choice. Anita is good with her customers, the right amount of casual conversation to keep you from falling asleep in the chair, and when I used to come here, I was always satisfied with the results.
On top of that, for a standard men’s haircut, the price was less than $ 10. Which always resulted in more than $ 10 because I tip well for things I cannot do well by myself (I follow a few tenets of the Dwight Schrute code). I have neither the manual dexterity nor the equipment nor the sense of style to cut my own hair — even if 50% of it is done with the clippers.
I really don’t know if the prices have increased. I really don’t know if she’s still as good as she used to be. I haven’t been there for a haircut in about two years.
Why? Did something happen? Was an ear removed in a horrible scissors-​related accident?
No. I got a freakin’ job.
The bane of my existence outside of work are all of the businesses I would like to be a patron of but am not allowed to be since I work during the day. I work a standard 8-​hour day and am pretty much booked with work and travel from 6:30am to 5:30pm, Monday through Friday.
The first few times I tried to get my haircut here after starting my job, I was greeted with a CLOSED sign in the window. When I hunted down the phone number, I was either greeted by Anita to let me know they were already closed for the day or was left to listen to a continually-​ringing dial with no answering machine.
Times have thankfully changed and now they have an answering machine to let you know the very few hours they are open. Anita gets bonus points for being open after 6pm, but only 3 days out of the week.
The hours of business there are Tuesday/​Thursday 5pm-​7pm, Friday 3pm-​7pm and Saturday 10am-​4pm. So if you find out you need a haircut quickly (which is 90% of all my haircuts, as they usually involve an important meeting or event popping up) and it’s a Sunday, Monday or Wednesday — you’re S.O.L. if you try Anita’s.
But again, bonus points for being open until 7pm on those few nights. Also, I have a habit of trying to find a hairdresser whose second language is one I understand. Luckily, I understand Spanish. Maybe it’s my paranoia, but I want to know if the foreign conversation and laughter going on among the staff is at my expense. Thankfully, Anita and her staff have never been caught by me saying an unkind word behind my back.
Of course it’s been two years. This review could be a moot point. But back in the day, those were some good, cheap and stylish haircuts.