my $thescalar=shift; 
my %thehash=shift;
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shift returns a single element of @_ (i.e. the first element), whereas you (presumably) want all parameters of getInfo except the first to go into %thehash. You can do that like this:

my $thescalar = shift; # 1st parameter goes in $thescalar
my %thehash = @_;      # everything else goes in %thehash
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or even

my ($thescalar, %thehash) = @_;
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