diff --git a/src/psygnal/_signal.py b/src/psygnal/_signal.py
index ee516cdc..22ce805e 100644
--- a/src/psygnal/_signal.py
+++ b/src/psygnal/_signal.py
@@ -1127,6 +1127,10 @@ def resume(self, reducer: ReducerFunc | None = None, initial: Any = _NULL) -> No
         # EventedModel.update, it may be undefined (as seen in tests)
         if not getattr(self, "_args_queue", None):
             return
+        if len(self._slots) == 0:
+            self._args_queue.clear()
+            return
+
         if reducer is not None:
             if len(inspect.signature(reducer).parameters) == 1:
                 args = cast("ReducerOneArg", reducer)(self._args_queue)