Background: At our office there is a unisex toilet, shared with 2 other businesses. There is a key to get into the toilet to prevent misuse, and also a lock on the inside of the door (one of those that indicates "Occupied" or "Vacant" to the outside) because obviously if not then somebody else with a key could walk in on you while you were in there.
I just went downstairs, unlocked the door and walked in and immediately saw a man standing in the cubicle. I apologised and went outside and shut the door. He'd forgotten to turn the internal lock when he went in. I stood outside and waited for a veeeerrrryy long time - which surprised me as most people hurry up when they know somebody is waiting. Finally he came out, said "Sorry love". I said "Don't forget to lock the door next time" and he seemed confused. I indicated the internal lock and he sort of nodded and headed off slowly downstairs. I went in, locked the door, and walked towards the cubicle. At that point it was obvious that the toilet seat was covered in urine. I exclaimed "That's disgusting!" to myself out loud, turned around and walked out. There's no way I'm cleaning that up, particularly with the serious gag reflex I have at the moment.
When I walked out, the man was just near the bottom of the stairwell so I could have said something to him, he actually glanced up at me. But words failed me. Instead I stomped my feet upstairs back into my office - fortunately I didn't need to go very badly.
Now I'm wondering what would have been ok to say or do. Note that the man was quite elderly (I would say well over 70+) so it did occur to me that he might have some kind of medical issue. Also I've never seen him before, he must be a client of another business not an employee. He wasn't carrying a key so I assume they must have come up and let him in then gone back.
So I ask you: would it have been rude of me to have confronted him about it even if that embarassed him? Note that the stairwell is small and private so nobody would overhear. I thought of saying something like: "Excuse me, can you please come back and wipe the seat, you've left it dirty and I can't use it like that". But it was one of those frustrating moments where you just aren't sure whether to seize it or not. I'm really quite annoyed though, I can't believe somebody could be so rude and inconsiderate.
