diff -ur a/exo-helper/exo-helper.c b/exo-helper/exo-helper.c
--- a/exo-helper/exo-helper.c
+++ b/exo-helper/exo-helper.c
@@ -347,6 +347,7 @@
                     const gchar *parameter,
                     GError     **error)
 {
+  GTimeVal      current;
   gboolean      succeed = FALSE;
   GError       *err = NULL;
   gchar       **commands;
@@ -392,8 +393,11 @@
       if (G_UNLIKELY (!succeed))
         continue;
 
+      /* determine the current time */
+      g_get_current_time (&current);
+
       /* try to run the command */
-      succeed = xfce_spawn_on_screen (screen, NULL, argv, NULL, G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH, helper->startup_notify, gtk_get_current_event_time (), NULL, &err);
+      succeed = xfce_spawn_on_screen (screen, NULL, argv, NULL, G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH, helper->startup_notify, current.tv_usec, NULL, &err);
 
       /* cleanup */
       g_strfreev (argv);