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In all the anime and j-drama I have watched all these years, as far as I can
remember, the only scenario where the greeting 「ごめんください」 is used is when the
characters are in front of an ajar or open door of a house calling the
residents out, like 「ごめんください! だれかいませんか?」. I also remember some scenes where
this greeting was used in phone calls, although I can't recall whether it was
in the beginning or before the end of the conversations.

Apart from the two scenarios above, are there any other scenarios where
「ごめんください」 is used? If not, what makes this greeting so restricted in usage?

N.B. Somewhat related: [Usage of すみません (sumimasen) versus ごめんなさい
(gomen'nasai)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/317/usage-of-
sumimasen-versus-gomennasai)
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2011-07-20T13:16:30.773
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2011-07-20T18:36:25.893
2017-04-13T12:43:44.157
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usage politeness set-phrases greetings
Usage of 「ごめんください」
`ごめんください` is an idiomatic expression used to attract someone's attention when
visitng that person's place. It does not mean 'appology' + 'please give' any
more. Pretty much similar to your example but another variant is when you want
something at a shop, and you don't see a shop clerk around, you can use this
word to call someone. If the person you want to call is already in front of
you, you cannot use this.
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2011-07-20T16:59:29.597
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2011-07-20T16:59:29.597
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answer
sawa already gave a good explanation of the idiom ごめんください, but I will add
another usage: it is also used at the end of conversation when the speaker
leaves. In this meaning, it is also used over the phone, whereas I do not
think that anyone says ごめんください at the beginning of a phone call. Using ごめんください
when the speaker leaves (over the phone or not) sounds old-fashioned to me.
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2011-07-20T18:36:25.893
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2011-07-20T18:36:25.893
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answer