SDL_Addtimer works inconsistent or not at all

I recently started working with SDL and I encountered a problem

each time I do SDL_Addtimer it works very inconsistent or not at all

so far the only time I got it to work is if I put it in an infinity loop and hope it doesn't crash.

enter codUint32 callback( Uint32 interval, void *p){
printf("something");
return 0;}



int main (){
bool quit= false;
SDL_TimerID timer;
timer = SDL_AddTimer (6000 , callback , NULL);
while(!quit){
    //to keep the programm running
}
return 0;

}