diff --git a/app-modules/payment/src/Listeners/MarkBookingRefunded.php b/app-modules/payment/src/Listeners/MarkBookingRefunded.php
index e58ecf1..27a73b8 100644
--- a/app-modules/payment/src/Listeners/MarkBookingRefunded.php
+++ b/app-modules/payment/src/Listeners/MarkBookingRefunded.php
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 namespace Modules\Payment\Listeners;
 
-use Illuminate\Contracts\Queue\ShouldQueue;
 use Modules\Booking\Enums\BookingStatus;
 use Modules\Payment\Events\RefundProcessed;
 
@@ -11,8 +10,14 @@ use Modules\Payment\Events\RefundProcessed;
  * completes (domain.md §5). Guarded the same way as MarkBookingPaid — only
  * ever moves a still-confirmed booking, never clobbers one that moved on
  * for another reason.
+ *
+ * Deliberately synchronous, unlike MarkBookingPaid — a refund is always
+ * initiated from a request that's already waiting on it (the Filament
+ * action or the API endpoint), and staff expect the booking's status to
+ * read Cancelled the instant that request completes, not once a queue
+ * worker gets to it.
  */
-class MarkBookingRefunded implements ShouldQueue
+class MarkBookingRefunded
 {
     public function handle(RefundProcessed $event): void
     {
@@ -22,10 +27,6 @@ class MarkBookingRefunded implements ShouldQueue
         // pre-redesign rows where booking_id wasn't yet recorded.
         $booking = $event->refund->booking ?? $event->refund->payment->booking;
 
-        // Booking uses SoftDeletes — normally unreachable here (a confirmed
-        // booking is never deletable, BookingPolicy::delete), but this
-        // listener is queued, so it's worth guarding against a booking that
-        // vanished between dispatch and execution regardless.
         if ($booking === null) {
             return;
         }
diff --git a/app-modules/payment/tests/Feature/MarkBookingRefundedTest.php b/app-modules/payment/tests/Feature/MarkBookingRefundedTest.php
index bebab92..2942a37 100644
--- a/app-modules/payment/tests/Feature/MarkBookingRefundedTest.php
+++ b/app-modules/payment/tests/Feature/MarkBookingRefundedTest.php
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ test('does not touch a booking that already moved on for another reason', functi
     expect($booking->refresh()->status)->toBe(BookingStatus::Cancelled);
 });
 
-test('does not crash if the booking was soft-deleted before this queued listener ran', function () {
+test('does not crash if the booking was soft-deleted before this listener ran', function () {
     $booking = Booking::factory()->create(['status' => BookingStatus::Confirmed]);
     $payment = Payment::factory()->completed()->create(['booking_id' => $booking->id, 'gateway' => PaymentMethod::KbzMiniApp]);
     $refund = Refund::factory()->create(['payment_id' => $payment->id, 'status' => RefundStatus::Completed]);