In light of 60-plus serious news articles, a million tweets, and at least one piece of uncomfortable fan fiction, you may be tempted to question just who is “Alex from Target” — and how did he clamber his way to Internet-wide fame?

But avoid the urge. It will get you nowhere. Such questions aren’t only unsatisfying – they’re also besides the point. Alex from Target is precisely who his name would imply: A young man named Alex, employed as a cashier at the mega-retailer Target. And his claim to international Internet stardom is essentially the same: He was bagging a customer’s purchases, just as tens of thousands of other Target cashiers around the country do daily.

On this day, however, someone snapped a picture of Alex – gaze averted, hair artfully gelled to the left – as he slid what appears to be a cleaning product across the scanner. And some time after that, a young woman with 14,000 Twitter followers and an eye for attractive young men of the just-post-pubescent boy-band variety, posted said picture with the enthusiastic caption “YOOOOOOOOOO.” Count them: 10 Os.

YOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/eknsxBlx38

— rims (@auscalum) November 2, 2014

Within the space of six hours, “Alex from Target” – whose actual Twitter handle is purportedly @acl163, and who seems equally bemused and flattered by the whole thing — has become the subject not only of countless derivative memes and impersonators, but also an entire screaming teen fandom … not unlike the ones enjoyed by, say, One Direction or Five Seconds of Summer.

Read the full article here. Image via Mashable.