I work for a big company. Recently our Indian co-workers visited our HQ in Germany (the location is important for the story). One of them decided to wear Hitler merchandise to work one day. It was literally a t-shirt like you would expect it from a rock-band except that it was made for a dictator.

We laughed about it since it obviously was some cultural gaffe and expected anyway that some manager instantly would send this guy to the locker room or home or whatever, at least something. But guess what? Absolutely nothing happened. This guy was strolling around in a Hitler-shirt all day long.

I asked my boss what the heck is going on here and he told me that they can't do anything since this would highly offensive and impolite towards the employee. One has to be extremely careful since Indian people hate it "to lose their face", he added.

You have to understand that we have a "business casual" dress-code and we need to wear pullovers or business-shirts and long trousers. So while my co-worker can wear a Hitler shirt I'm not allowed to wear shorts.

I'm really angry about this whole story. Not because of my Indian co-worker, but my managers. Imagine a customer, press, CEOs etc. ran into a Hitler-shirt. Or a Jewish co-worker got to see this. The possibilities are endless.

My story should just explain what I'm asking here in a more general manner: how to approach management ignoring offensive and/or just highly inappropriate office clothing violating the dress code?