diff --git a/lib/queue.js b/lib/queue.js
index 2caddf5bd..346d3c89b 100755
--- a/lib/queue.js
+++ b/lib/queue.js
@@ -279,6 +279,12 @@ function redisClientGetter(queue, options, initCallback) {
         return connections[type];
       }
       const client = (connections[type] = createClient(type, options.redis));
+
+      // Since connections are lazily initialized, we can't check queue.client
+      // without initializing a connection. So expose a boolean we can safely
+      // query.
+      queue[type + 'Initialized'] = true;
+
       if (!options.createClient) {
         queue.clients.push(client);
       }
@@ -1144,6 +1150,11 @@ Queue.prototype.clean = function(grace, type, limit) {
  */
 Queue.prototype.whenCurrentJobsFinished = function() {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    if (!this.bclientInitialized) {
+      // bclient not yet initialized, so no jobs to wait for
+      return resolve();
+    }
+
     //
     // Force reconnection of blocking connection to abort blocking redis call immediately.
     //
diff --git a/test/test_connection.js b/test/test_connection.js
index 58ad1fc18..a01afc6e6 100644
--- a/test/test_connection.js
+++ b/test/test_connection.js
@@ -98,8 +98,15 @@ describe('connection', () => {
 
     const testQueue = utils.buildQueue('external connections', opts);
 
-    return testQueue
-      .isReady()
+    return new Promise(resolve => {
+      if (subscriber.status === 'ready') {
+        return resolve();
+      }
+      subscriber.once('ready', resolve);
+    })
+      .then(() => {
+        return testQueue.isReady();
+      })
       .then(() => {
         return testQueue.add({ foo: 'bar' });
       })
diff --git a/test/test_pause.js b/test/test_pause.js
index 832610b52..ec05068d9 100644
--- a/test/test_pause.js
+++ b/test/test_pause.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const expect = require('chai').expect;
 const redis = require('ioredis');
 const utils = require('./utils');
 const delay = require('delay');
+const sinon = require('sinon');
 
 describe('.pause', () => {
   let client;
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ describe('.pause', () => {
   });
 
   afterEach(() => {
+    sinon.restore();
     return client.quit();
   });
 
@@ -284,6 +286,17 @@ describe('.pause', () => {
       });
   });
 
+  it('should not initialize blocking client if not already initialized', async () => {
+    const createClient = sinon.spy(() => client);
+    const queue = utils.buildQueue('pause-queue', { createClient });
+
+    await queue.pause(true);
+    const bClientCalls = createClient
+      .getCalls()
+      .filter(c => c.args[0] === 'bclient');
+    expect(bClientCalls).to.have.lengthOf(0);
+  });
+
   it('pauses fast when queue is drained', function(done) {
     this.timeout(10000);
     const queue = new Queue('test');