Unnecessarily Gendering Things May Leave You Breathless

I work in a pharmacy. A woman drops off three prescriptions for her son. Among them are a nebulizer (inhaler) with Albuterol. Normally, we would dispense the “gender-appropriate” kids’ nebulizer, which is the green dragon for boys and pink cat for girls. We are all out of green dragons, and the normal-looking nebulizer is not covered under Medicaid, so I dispense the pink cat.

The mother comes and receives her son’s prescriptions. Then, she notices the pink nebulizer we are about to give her.

Mother: “Umm… is that pink?”

Cashier: “Yes.”

Mother: “Put it back. I’ll just take the medication.”

Like… okay? Just let your child go into coughing fits, I guess.

I am sure she probably already has one at home, but the fact that she denied it because it was pink is beyond mind-boggling to me. Yes, I’m sure this pink nebulizer is going to turn your son into a girl.