When and to whom should I use the expression ご苦労様 (gokurousama)?

Question

In what context and relationship wise to who can I safely say ご苦労様 (gokurousama)?

I often defer to using otsukaresama since I'm not sure if I'm talking down to someone by saying gokurousama. Please provide some example contexts where it would be appropriate. Thanks.

Answer 1

AFAIK, it means more or less the same thing as お疲れ様 (おつかれさま). But the nuance is to whom you say it. お疲れ様 is used for colleagues or superiours ("highers"), ご苦労様 I believe is only used from superiours to subordinates ("highers" to "lowers"). So you'd probably only say it if you have people "working" under you, such as direct subordinates at a job, if you're the leader of some type of group project, etc.

So you're probably safe most of the time to defer to お疲れ様 unless there's a very clear pecking-order of which you're at the top.

Answer 2

As istraci points out, ご苦労様です is usually used to someone below you in position.

Here is what an alc article says:

「お疲れ様です」と「ご苦労様です」の使い分けは？

　「お疲れ様です」には大きく２種類の用法が認められます。ひとつは（１）他人が何らかの労働や作業に従事したのを労う用法です。もうひとつは（２）共同で労働や作業を行った人同士が互いを労う用法です。

　　（１）「お父さん、今日も一日お仕事お疲れ様でした」
　　（２）「じゃ、どうもお疲れ様です」「あ、お疲れ様」

お疲れ様です has two meanings:

1. To say thanks for someone else finishing some work
2. To thank someone you worked with on something for their work

　「ご苦労様です」は自分に対して直接・間接的に益をもたらす労働や作業に従事した人を労うときに用いられます。

　　「ご注文の品をお届けに上がりました」「どうもご苦労様です」

ご苦労様です is to thank someone for completed work which directly or indirectly benefited you.

　どちらも労いの言葉ではありますが、「お疲れ様です」が比較的身分に中立的に用いられるのに対して、「ご苦労様です」は「奉仕」というニュアンスが伴って、目上から目下に対して用いられる傾向が強くなっています。特に会社などではこれを目上に対して用いないことがマナーとして確立しているようです。

　「疲れ」も「苦労」も類似した言葉ですが、「お疲れ様」「ご苦労様」と表現が固定して慣用的に用いられるようになり、本来の意味に別のニュアンスが伴うようになったと考えられます。

Both are words of thanks, but お疲れ様です is more neutral in regards to social position, while ご苦労様です has a nuance of someone serving you, so tends to be used more from someone in a higher position to someone below them. Especially in companies, ご苦労様です is typically not used to speak to someone above you in the hierarchy.

Although 疲れ and 苦労 are words with similar meanings, お疲れ様 and ご苦労様 are set phrases that have developed with everyday use and so their current use has different nuances from the original words.

Answer 3

I think another aspect or nuance of ご苦労様 is to express gratitude for (literal) labor, e.g. in a situation where someone has to physically exert themselves for your benefit - like to thank a carpenter or plumber. I'd think in daily white collar work life お疲れ様 is going to get used a lot more.