Huffman Coding

Driving home from my mom’s for Thanksgiving (3 cheese plates and 2 pumpkin rolls), Chris informed me that she had a 2-for-1 coupon at Hollywood Video rental and suggested that we stop by and pick up a couple of flicks. With three quarters of the holiday weekend remaining, I was up for it. Actually, I’m always up for a movie.

With a 2-for-1 deal, this meant the girls got to pick out a movie and the adults got to pick out a movie. Actually this meant Chris got to pick out the second movie. I was told to stay in the minivan with a sleeping Claire. I suggested that she grab her cell phone from the minivan glovebox and call me from inside the rental store if she needed help picking out a movie. I did this because we never agree on movies and this gives me a slight opportunity to influence the choice. She declined to take the phone in with her.

Well it took forever (half hour plus?) for her to pick out her movie. Three other families had come and gone before finally Chris flashed two DVD cases out the store window. From 35 feet away, I couldn’t tell what she had picked out, so I just shrugged an indifferent “whatever” from the driver’s seat.

Chris indicated with a frown that this was not an acceptable response and insisted that I come into the store. Choosing a movie was evidently a taxing experience for her.

I grabbed a sleeping Claire and went on in. The girls picked a Scooby-Doo movie that they had already seen. Chris’s choice was narrowed to The Girl in the Cafe or Little Black Book. Neither had gotten good reviews, and in cases like this, I always pick the guiltier pleasure. This gives me cover. Because if the movies sucks, Chris can’t blame me because she picked them both out.

At home, when we started to watch Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire, I noticed that they had forgotten to remove the security device. We couldn’t open either case. With just a glance, I understood this to mean it was my responsibility to run back to the video store. I asked Chris for the receipt at least.

Since they had also failed to give us I receipt, I was dreading going back to the store with the locked videos. I was paranoid that it would appear as if I had smuggled the videos out the store without paying. Chris was kind enough to call and explain the situation before my trek. Sorta like a pre-approval. The clerk over the phone was kind enough to offer us a free video for having to drive back to the store.

Back at the store, the junior guy at the counter kindly removed the security locks to the cases. When I reminded him of the free rental, he yelled “Free Rental” over to the manager in the middle of the store. The manager was annoyed that a checkout clerk had forgotten to remove the security lock and asked the junior guy behind the counter if he knew which employee had dropped the ball.

After picking out a third DVD (elapsed time 30 seconds), I met the manager at the front counter to check it out. He asked me my name

“Huffman…” and then I followed my response with a phrase that often annoys both clerks and me “… but it might be under my wife’s name, Chris Chandler.”

After failing to get a customer database hit under my name, he asked what my wife’s maiden name was again. I told him.

The manager got a sheepish look on his face. “I think I was the one who checked her out.”