The First Customer Complaint Is Almost 4,000 Years Old
the grass is always greener: not being satisfied with what you have, always imagining that other people’s lives or situations are better
Nearly 4,000 years ago, in ancient Mesopotamia, a merchant named Nanni wrote an angry letter to a copper dealer named Ea-nasir. The copper arrived late and in poor condition. So Nanni wrote his complaint into wet clay.
“What do you take me for,” he wrote, “that you treat somebody like me with such contempt?” He wanted his money back, and he demanded to inspect the copper himself before paying for any future deliveries. That tablet sits in the British Museum today. Scholars call it the oldest customer complaint in history.
Nanni was not the only unhappy customer. When archaeologists searched the ruins of Ea-nasir’s house, they found more angry letters. Ea-nasir had been disappointing his customers for years.
In the city of Larsa, a different complaint survived from the same time. A boy named Iddin-Sin wrote to his mother, Zinu. His gripe was much smaller. His clothes were not as nice as the other boys’. Even a servant’s son dressed better than he did. So he wrote the cruelest line he could think of: “His mother loves him. You do not love me.”
Zinu had spent months weaving those clothes by hand. Her son only saw what the other boys had. Ungrateful kids, sure that the grass is always greener on the other side, have changed little in 4,000 years.
Sample sentences
Every time I scroll through my friends’ vacation photos, I feel like the grass is always greener somewhere else.
She envies her single friends every weekend. The grass is always greener, I keep telling her.
I catch myself wishing I had my neighbor’s life. The grass is always greener, I guess.
Read More
The Oldest Customer Complaint in History (IFLScience)
The 4,000-Year-Old Complaint Tablet From a Boy to His Mother (Upworthy)
Complaint Tablet to Ea-n??ir (Wikipedia)
