Clicking Unity icon does nothing if workspace/application switch mode in operation

Clicking on the side icons when the window switcher/desktop switcher does nothing, but the user has reason to expect that they are available (they are not inactive or greyed out):

  1. Open 2x Terminal
  2. Click Terminal icon
  3. (Two zoomed-out terminals displayed side-by-side)
  4. Click Workspaces icon

Expected: Workspaces switcher shows
Actual: nothing. No feedback given to user

The same happens in the other direction too:

  1. Open 2x Terminal
  2. Click Workspaces icon
  3. (Four zoomed-out desktops displayed side-by-side)
  4. Click Terminal icon

Expected: Terminal switcher appears
Actual: nothing happens. No feedback given to user

Ideally either the interface should respond to my command within 100 milliseconds and do something, or the icon should be visibly unavailable, offering guidance on what is in fact intended to be clickable (what "menu" of actions is possible). Effectively the switcher "dialogue" is modal and is in fact blocking access to the rest of the interface.