diff --git a/neon/tests/plasma/plasma_alternatives.pm b/neon/tests/plasma/plasma_alternatives.pm
index 152aa41..6638fe6 100644
--- a/neon/tests/plasma/plasma_alternatives.pm
+++ b/neon/tests/plasma/plasma_alternatives.pm
@@ -1,66 +1,72 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2018 Bhavisha Dhruve <bhavishadhruve@gmail.com>
 # Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Harald Sitter <sitter@kde.org>
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 # modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
 # published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
 # the License or (at your option) version 3 or any later version
 # accepted by the membership of KDE e.V. (or its successor approved
 # by the membership of KDE e.V.), which shall act as a proxy
 # defined in Section 14 of version 3 of the license.
 #
 # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 # GNU General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 use base "basetest_neon";
 use strict;
 use testapi;
 
 sub run {
     assert_screen 'folder-desktop';
-    
+
     # Starts the Alternative Menu
     assert_and_click 'plasma-launcher', 'right';
-    
+
     # Selects the Application Menu
     assert_and_click 'kickoff-alternatives';
     assert_and_click 'kickoff-alternatives-popup';
-    
+
     # Switches to Application Menu
+    # FIXME: temporary hack. there is a rendering bug appearing every so often
+    #   where the popup is corrupted and the entries are off-set by 1, so we'd
+    #   click the wrong entry. a wait may fix this if the corruption is
+    #   transient. if not, we'll need to assert that the screen is not corrupted
+    #   and only then do the click. if it is corrupted we'll need to reopen
+    #   the popup until it is not.
+    wait_still_screen;
     assert_and_click 'plasma-alternatives-switch';
     assert_screen 'folder-desktop';
-    
+
     # Check if kicker opens instead of kickoff
     assert_and_click 'plasma-launcher';
     assert_screen 'plasma-kicker';
     send_key 'esc';
-    
+
     # Roll back to kickoff
     assert_and_click 'plasma-launcher', 'right';
     assert_and_click 'kickoff-alternatives';
     assert_and_click 'kickoff-alternatives-launcher';
     assert_and_click 'plasma-alternatives-switch';
     assert_screen 'folder-desktop';
     assert_and_click 'plasma-launcher';
     assert_screen 'kickoff-popup';
     wait_still_screen;
     send_key 'esc';
     wait_still_screen;
     assert_screen 'folder-desktop';
 }
 
 sub test_flags {
     # without anything - rollback to 'lastgood' snapshot if failed
     # 'fatal' - whole test suite is in danger if this fails
     # 'milestone' - after this test succeeds, update 'lastgood'
     # 'important' - if this fails, set the overall state to 'fail'
     return { important => 1 };
 }
 
 1;
-