Walmart Worker Goes Viral as 'Grumpy Gran'

A petition to get a "national icon for the working woman" on Ellen DeGeneres' show has nearly 19,000 signatures so far—and it's all because of the photos Charlene Mull poses for at work. The 64-year-old Walmart employee has become an internet sensation thanks to quirky pics she's appeared in at her store in North East, Md., where she lounges on yard furniture, rests in cribs, and sports milk mustaches to help sell product. The New York Post notes that the images of her shared on social media over the past couple of weeks have earned her tens of thousands of likes, as well as the nickname "Grumpy Gran"—a riff on "Grumpy Cat"—for her signature scowl.

The photos of Mull—an electronics department manager who's worked there for almost a decade—are taken by her co-worker, Malgorzata Baker, who's also a photographer. The Baltimore Sun pinpoints that the first time her "patented frown" showed up in a public image was on Jan. 13, showing her next to a crate of Joker discs with the caption "Why So Serious?" People took to the look, and "once we started dressing up, it just took off," Mull says. Local media is covering her newfound fame, co-workers started the Ellen petition, and Mull has gained fans near and far. "I think you are amazing! You bring light to a dismal world!," one wrote on social media, per the Sun. Mull has no plans to stop anytime soon. "I'm just going to keep doing my photos and see where it takes me," she says. (More Walmart stories.)