diff --git a/src/systemctl/systemctl.c b/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
index 2a385bf3503..dd0ebff1793 100644
--- a/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
+++ b/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
@@ -3585,8 +3585,16 @@ static int start_special(int argc, char *argv[], void *userdata) {
                                 /* requested operation is not supported or already in progress */
                                 return r;
 
-                        /* On all other errors, try low-level operation */
-                }
+                        /* On all other errors, try low-level operation. In order to minimize the difference between
+                         * operation with and without logind, we explicitly enable non-blocking mode for this, as
+                         * logind's shutdown operations are always non-blocking. */
+
+                        arg_no_block = true;
+
+                } else if (IN_SET(a, ACTION_EXIT, ACTION_KEXEC))
+                        /* Since exit/kexec are so close in behaviour to power-off/reboot, let's also make them
+                         * asynchronous, in order to not confuse the user needlessly with unexpected behaviour. */
+                        arg_no_block = true;
 
                 r = start_unit(argc, argv, userdata);
         }