They say “Home” is where the hot is.
But even in her hottest ’fit, a single bombshell struggled to garner the attention and affection of folks at Home Depot.
Caroline Ricke, a lifestyle content creator, slipped into her sexiest little black dress and sauciest sandals and headed straight for the hardware hub to assess the power of “pretty privilege” in an everyday, mostly male-dominated environment.
And the outcomes weren’t pretty.
“My slutty outfit was met with more apprehension than flirtation,” Ricke groaned to her over 3.2 million social media fans in a viral video. “No one’s helping me. I’ve been sitting here for, like, 10 minutes, and I put on this whole outfit, and no one’s offering me any help.”
Rather than being adored, the pinup was ignored by the men she expected to sweep off their feet.
But pretty privilege, or social benefits exclusively afforded to the gorgeous, can be a tricky trait to gauge — even in a hotspot like Home Depot, where single women have flocked in the hopes of scoring a husband.
While some hotties hail the fetching factor for granting them otherwise unmerited access to free treats and high salaries, others argue that the blessing of beauty is actually a “curse” that bars them from maintaining solid relationships and landing dream jobs.
To truly test the theory, Ricke returned to Home Depot in a sweatshirt and basketball shorts, dumping her look-at-me mini dress for a much more homely look.
And much to the brunette’s surprise, the dowdy duds caught eyes — and compliments, too.
She was first fawned over by an unidentified female staffer who called her “pretty,” “beautiful” and “gorgeous” during two brief run-ins.
Ricke, still in her unfussy wear, later received a high-value store coupon from a male Home Depot worker — and randomly found $60 on the ground.
“This is, like, literally, my lucky day,” raved the undercover beauty, who pouted after failing to curry any favor in her foxier attire.
“I think they’re treating me better because they’re not intimidated by me,” she concluded of the social experiment, which amassed a wave of virtual praise.
“You’re more approachable that way!” a commenter said, referring to Ricke’s casual clothes. “You’re already beautiful, so dressing down isn’t going to change that your beauty just shines more because your face and confidence carries. In the dressy outfit, people are just [intimidated].”
“I go dressed [informally],” a frequent Home Depot shopper chimed in, “and I get approached [by men] every two aisles.”
“It’s the same as the comfy clothes in the bar trend,” wrote another. “I’ve had men tell me that I’m intimidating to approach when I’m dressed up. It’s the girl next door vibe.”
A separate straight-shooter summed up Ricke’s results in two short words, noting that her leisure wear won more hearts than the skimpy style in the battle between “approachable” vs. “unapproachable.”
