I am so sorry this happened to you, Natalie. When I read your post, I started suspecting that it was smoke that caused the pink eye. Since you are clearly not used to being in an environment where people smoke around you, this might have been a trigger.

I did not have time to fact-check, and Generative AI has been known to sometimes hallucinate (confabulate) responses, but FWIW, this is what Google's Generative AI had to say when I asked:

Yes, exposure to smoke can cause a type of pink eye called conjunctivitis. This type of pink eye is non-contagious and is caused by irritation to the conjunctiva, the outermost layer of the eye's tissue. Other irritants that can cause conjunctivitis include: Chlorine, Car fumes, Pollen, and Hard contact lenses.