Item stops showing up on taskbar after being trashed and restored

[Thomas Bushnell, BSG]

1) Create a desktop shortcut
2) Launch it - this should create a specific entry on the left taskbar.
3) Lock the task to the taskbar.
4) Close it.
5) Move the desktop shortcut to the trash. (This should also get rid of the locked item in the taskbar, and does.)
6) Move the trashed shortcut back to the desktop.
7) Launch the process.

Note that the application--which is now running--should show up in the launcher, but it doesn't. This does not *always* happen, but it almost always does; repeat the steps and it happens 3 out of 4 times.

Step 1) is being done in the following way:
1) Launch Chrome.
2) Navigate somewhere.
3) Find the File menu; not in Chrome, but in the top bar, mac-style.
4) Create an Application shortcut on the desktop (NOT the launch bar). If this doesn't show up (and it comes and goes), try switching application focus. If it's grayed out, navigate to a different site.
5) Right-click on the new application shortcut and select Properties.
6) Change the icon to one of the ones under /opt/google/chrome/google-chrome.
7) Rename the shortcut
8) Delete the portion of the command that navigates to the site you don't care about
9) Set the command as desired (eg, --user-data-dir=something)
10) Close