I Work at a Slaughterhouse

Submission 4,406

Part of a series on Viral Videos. [View Related Entries]

About

I Work at a Slaughterhouse refers to a "street interview" viral video in which the prompt is "Asking New Yorkers what they do for a living" and the man, wearing a grey puffer coat, says "I work at a slaughterhouse." The video was originally posted to Instagram and TikTok in 2024, but it spread across social media platforms like Twitter / X. The man was likened to a villain, specifically a Batman villain, because of his creepy and distressing answer. Others called him Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men.

Origin

On January 26th, 2024, Instagram^[1] user @pontillosauce (in collaboration with the accounts @peachfuzzpapi and @newyorkers) posted a street interview video in which the prompt was "Asking New Yorkers what they do for a living." The last man in the video responded "I work at a slaughterhouse" and continued by saying that his favorite part of the job was, "Watching the light be released from a living creature." Over one month, the Reel received roughly 233,000 views and 5,100 likes (shown below).

The user also posted the video on TikTok,^[2] gaining over 63,700 plays and 2,200 likes during the same timeframe.

We're just asking New Yorkers, what do you do for a living?
I work at a slaughterhouse.
What?
Slaughterhouse, I work the air gun.
Oh.
So, when an animal is no more, you take the air gun with a six-inch rod and it's [pop] right inside your head.
Oh, what's your favorite part of your job?
Watching the light be released from a living creature.

The man in the video is featured in skits on @pontillosauce's Instagram.^[3] Therefore, the video is likely a skit.

Spread

On January 29th, 2024, TikToker^[4] @archieandrewsakachris reposted the video, gaining over 6.4 million plays and 860,600 likes in one month (shown below, left). Variations and edits then surfaced, like one posted by TikToker^[5] @jepaloon on February 9th, 2024, gaining over 3.6 million plays and 611,600 likes in two weeks (shown below, right).

On February 22nd, 2024, the X^[6] account of @Dexerto posted the video, gaining over 3.4 million views and 37,000 likes in one day. The tweet inspired viral replies and quotes, like X^[7] user @RomezWrld who wrote, "Take this nigga to Arkham," on February 22nd, gaining over 4,100 likes in a day (shown below, left).

X^[8] user @LetsGoLeo_ also replied on February 22nd, 2024, writing, "he's not even listening to music on those headphones bro is listening to screaming animals in pain on max volume," receiving roughly 3,700 likes in a day (shown below, right).