Who Wants a Haircut for $9.99?

The other day I was walking past this barber shop on Broadway in the upper 90’s:

This sign caught my eye:

It made me wonder what kind of customer is willing to get a crewcut by an “apprentice barber.” Would you? Also, was there really an “apprentice barber” on standby only to handle the $9.99 cuts? Not likely. It did make me think back to when I was in grad school and needed a root canal, and took advantage of the cut-rate dentistry available at my school’s College of Dental Medicine. The root canal was performed by a student — it took many visits, was unbelievably painful, and kept me from returning to any dentist for several years.

In this case, I wonder if the $9.99 haircut price works as a pure attention-getter, and makes a potential customer think that the regular prices (listed below) are, relative to the indignity of an “apprentice” haircut, still pretty cheap.