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I've seen お疲れさま and ご[苦労]{くろう}さま used to say "Thank you" after some had done
work of some type. After reading the お疲れさま thread, I realize that the two are
not interchangeable. So when do you use ご[苦労]{くろう}さま?

[When is it appropriate to use
otsukaresama?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1158/when-is-it-
appropriate-to-use-%E3%81%8A%E7%96%B2%E3%82%8C%E6%A7%98-otsukaresama)
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2012-03-23T03:00:53.397
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usage nuances set-phrases greetings
When is it appropriate to use　ごくろうさま?
( _First, a note:_ because there is a ご at the beginning of ごくろうさま, that お〜 is
actually not there. :)

I've most often heard ご苦労様{くろうさま} used by people older than myself, when I
have done something for the person (or in some way have helped the person,)
using that phrase. (Besides age, this could also happen in a business
situation, where a senior worker is speaking to a junior worker.)

For reference, more information can be found in the following article:
[御苦労様](http://d.hatena.ne.jp/tinuyama/20060727).
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From how I understand it, it is sort of a subsection of when you might say
`お疲れ様でした`, for when people are "just doing their job" so to speak. Like if a
firefighter gets a cat from out of a tree, or you're leaving your job site and
are talking to your co-workers. It seems to me that this is said to police
officers a lot.
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2012-03-23T04:05:44.657
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