Marissa Mayer misses a chance to shame a 'dirty old man'

I would have been tempted to step down from the stage, cock my fist, and swing it while saying: "Lean into this, George."

And yet not being Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, I was unable to perform this task at Tuesday's shareholders meeting.

Sadly, Mayer decided to put up with an alleged shareholder taking the microphone and offering: "I'm George Polis. I have 2,000 shares of Yahoo. I'm Greek, and I'm a dirty old man, and you look attractive, Marissa."

Perhaps this man thought he was being funny.

More likely, he really is a dirty old man, whose drinking buddies slapped his back after the meeting and said: "Way to go, George. I think you gotta chance there."

Mayer didn't bother to answer his charming pick-up line.

But perhaps the saddest part was that the other attendees either sat in silence or laughed in a vaguely embarrassed fashion.

No one seemed to turn to Polis, shake him by his dirty-old-man lapels and suggest he return to the 19th century, where a horse and cart were waiting to take him away.

Though one can imagine why Mayer stayed silent, it's a pity she didn't at least speak up and suggest that the world was changing a little and that perhaps neanderthal investors (and others in tech) need to understand that.

It still would have been even better to see her come off the stage, slap him, and tell him that was the only dividend he would ever get from Yahoo.