diff --git a/api/src/repositories/sale.repository.js b/api/src/repositories/sale.repository.js
index 4bdf7237..054d0120 100644
--- a/api/src/repositories/sale.repository.js
+++ b/api/src/repositories/sale.repository.js
@@ -8796,6 +8796,17 @@ class SalesRepository {
       table_number: wanted,
       called_at: at,
       seen_at: null,
+      /*
+       * THE ROW MUST CARRY ITS DATE OR IT NEVER LEAVES THIS DATABASE.
+       *
+       * This is a native insert, so nothing stamps it. The sync agent finds
+       * work with { updated_date: { $exists: true } } and the gateway sends
+       * a till only rows whose updated_date moved. A call written without one
+       * sits in the cloud for ever, and the person at the table keeps
+       * waving. Same trap as the settings save (#838).
+       */
+      created_date: at,
+      updated_date: at,
       /* What the device was, for a shop wondering later where a run of calls
          came from. Never anything that identifies the person. */
       client: client && typeof client === 'object' ? client : null,
@@ -8892,7 +8903,13 @@ class SalesRepository {
     if (BaseModel.license) filter.license = BaseModel.license;
 
     const done = await db.collection('waitercalls').updateOne(filter, {
-      $set: { seen_at: new Date(), seen_by: BaseModel.loggedUserName || '' },
+      /* updated_date moves too, or the cloud never learns the call was
+         answered and the ordering page keeps saying "already calling". */
+      $set: {
+        seen_at: new Date(),
+        seen_by: BaseModel.loggedUserName || '',
+        updated_date: new Date(),
+      },
     });
     if (!done.matchedCount) return { status: false, message: 'not_found', data: null };
 
diff --git a/tests/a-call-carries-its-date.test.js b/tests/a-call-carries-its-date.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..299fdf95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/a-call-carries-its-date.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+'use strict';
+
+/*
+ * A table's call reaches the till, and the answer reaches the table.
+ *
+ * "A table can call somebody over" (7a0aac6e) wrote the call into whichever
+ * database the ordering page was talking to - the cloud's - and marked the
+ * collection synced. Two things stood between that row and the till's request
+ * dock, and neither was visible from the feature's own tests:
+ *
+ *   NO LANE. The sync agent had no entry for waitercalls and the gateway
+ *   accepted none. Built in Posnic/Gateway ("A call reaches the till"); the
+ *   packaging guard in scripts/prepare-sync-agent.js is what noticed, by
+ *   refusing a build on 2026-09-17.
+ *
+ *   NO DATE. The row was a native insert with no updated_date. The agent
+ *   finds its work with { updated_date: { $exists: true } } and the gateway
+ *   sends a till only rows whose updated_date moved. A lane would have
+ *   carried nothing. Same trap as the settings save (#838), same family as
+ *   the handset module nothing required: written, tested, read by nobody.
+ *
+ * Both writes are pinned here, because the second one is the one that gets
+ * lost: marking a call seen at the till must move updated_date too, or the
+ * cloud never learns the call was answered and the ordering page keeps
+ * telling the customer "already calling".
+ */
+
+const test = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert');
+const fs = require('node:fs');
+const path = require('node:path');
+
+const ROOT = path.join(__dirname, '..');
+const REPO = fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'api', 'src', 'repositories', 'sale.repository.js'), 'utf8');
+const DECISIONS = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'api', 'src', 'sync', 'collections.json'), 'utf8'));
+
+/** The source of one method, by name, so an assertion cannot match a neighbour. */
+function methodSource(name) {
+  const at = REPO.indexOf('async ' + name + '(');
+  assert.ok(at > 0, name + ' is not in sale.repository.js');
+  const next = REPO.indexOf(String.fromCharCode(10) + '  async ', at + 1);
+  return REPO.slice(at, next > 0 ? next : undefined);
+}
+
+test('a new call carries created_date and updated_date', () => {
+  const src = methodSource('callTheWaiter');
+  assert.ok(src.includes('called_at: at,'), 'the call is no longer stamped with when it was made');
+  assert.ok(src.includes('created_date: at,'), 'a call has no created_date');
+  assert.ok(src.includes('updated_date: at,'), 'a call has no updated_date, so it never leaves the cloud');
+});
+
+test('answering a call moves updated_date, so the cloud learns it was answered', () => {
+  const src = methodSource('seeWaiterCall');
+  const set = src.slice(src.indexOf('$set:'), src.indexOf('}', src.indexOf('$set:')) + 1);
+  assert.ok(set.includes('seen_at: new Date()'), 'seen no longer stamps seen_at');
+  assert.ok(set.includes('updated_date: new Date()'), 'seen does not move updated_date; the answer never syncs back');
+});
+
+test('waitercalls is a synced, branch-scoped collection again', () => {
+  /*
+   * It was moved to undecided (#851) when the guard found the promise had no
+   * lane behind it. With the lane built, the promise is true again - and the
+   * guard keeps checking, against the agent actually bundled.
+   */
+  assert.strictEqual(DECISIONS.synced.waitercalls, 'branch');
+  assert.ok(!(DECISIONS.undecided && DECISIONS.undecided.waitercalls), 'still listed as undecided');
+});