diff --git a/src/std/event.ss b/src/std/event.ss
index 2af59c6f2..1ee6c32d5 100644
--- a/src/std/event.ss
+++ b/src/std/event.ss
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@
       (mutex-unlock! mx))))
 
 (def (selector-wait-io-condvar sel timeo)
-  (##wait-for-io! sel (or timeo #t)))
+  (##wait-for-io! sel (if timeo (timeout->abs-timeout->seconds timeo) #t)))
 
 (def (maybe-timeout? obj)
   (or (not obj)
@@ -151,6 +151,11 @@
   (if (time? timeo) timeo
       (seconds->time (+ (##current-time-point) timeo))))
 
+(def (timeout->abs-timeout->seconds timeo)
+  (if (time? timeo)
+    (time->seconds timeo)
+    (+ (##current-time-point) timeo)))
+
 (def (io-condition-variable? obj)
   (and (condition-variable? obj)
        (##foreign? (macro-condvar-name obj))))