All my subs are called with arguments, so the ()'s are always there

Actually, no they aren't ;). Your code includes &getinput; and &status calls without arguments at least. Just goes to show how easy it is for code not to be the way you think it is!

If you haven't resolved the issue yet you should try to strip out code until you find the problem or you have a sample script with a minimum of irrelevant code and still demonstrating the issue. You may find I know what I mean. Why don't you? helps focus your effort.

You are right, neither of those have arguments. status neither takes any nor returns any, it just prints the status of several variables. getinput returns an argument (the input). Neither affect global variables.
However, you are right in that code can often be misleading. I have stripped all the &'s from my code and confirmed that it still functions like I expected it to. I have yet to try again with global vars, so we will see how that goes.

For the OP's immediate problem it's likely they don't. However the type of issue the OP is having leads me to think that the OP hasn't wide programming experience so pointing out areas that are a frequent cause of subtle problems may help. For example the & calling convention leads to

doit(1, 2, 3);
againSam(1, 2, 3);

sub againSam {
    andAgain();
    andAgain();
}

sub doit {
    &andAgain;
    &andAgain;
}

sub andAgain {
    my (@values) = @_;
    
    print "<@values>\n";
}
[download]

printing:

<1 2 3>
<1 2 3>
<>
<>
[download]

which may be surprising if you don't appreciate what &andAgain is doing. Mixing prototypes in may also be surprising:

sub andAgain ($);

my @nums = (1, 2, 3);

andAgain(@nums);
&andAgain(@nums);

sub andAgain ($) {
    my (@values) = @_;
    
    print "<@values>\n";
}
[download]

prints:

<3>
<1 2 3>
[download]

I doubt either "issue" is what is troubling the OP currently. However & call usage at least is present in the OP's code and where there is & calling there are likely prototypes. Pointing out potential problem areas in the OP's code, even if it's not what the OP is asking about, helps the OP. Until the OP shows us some code that reproduces the actual problem the best we can do is offer help with a few style issues.

Note, the example code really isn't for educated_foo whom I'm sure knows all about this stuff. The examples are for those who are wondering what the fuss is about. Oh, and strictures are always useful, at the very least to pick up typos and brain farts.