How can i get an element from QUEUE

int get(){
        if (head == 0) { 
            return -999; 
        }
        else {
            int v = head->item; 
            link t = head->next;
            delete head; head = t; 
            return v;
        }           
    }

Here is my switch case to call get function

if (q.get() != -999) {
    cout << q.get() << " element removed from Queue" << endl;
} 
else {
   cout << "nothing to get; queue is empty" << endl;
}

when i get an element like 1 from get function, im getting "nothing to get; queue is empty"message.

but i am able to get a correct element from the queue, but getting a wrong message. What is wrong in my code?