Bike shops live and die on service and it's sad to hear some of these stories. I worked in a shop when WSD was coming out and it was very hyped by the bike companies as a blow AGAINST discrimination of women, who always were stuck with ill fitting bikes. It is unfortunate that pink and lower end components are part of this, as opposed to only geometry and different sized components. Most all the employee training is from company reps, so they're probably just acting on what they heard from the reps, not that that's an excuse. Hopefully it moves more from men vs women sizing to whatever fits best, as mentioned above.

PS. Just for future reference it's 49cm, not 49"

IMHO you can't go bike shopping without knowing your fit first. And you can't rule out all women specific bikes based on the above.

Example - check the measurements of the Trek Speed Concept 7.0 WSD sizes vs non WSD. The ONLY differences are that the WSD has an XS, and between the other sizes, the only difference is the head tube length.

Now I'm not defending these shops because let's face it, it can be like buying a car and women don't know what they're talking about ;)

....but my advice to you is to know what really fits you and shop that way. Do lots of homework before you even step foot into a shop.

You went from a women's 49 Specialized (which was too small)
to a "unisex" 52 Cannondale? WOW that's quite a jump and could be as much as 2 frame sizes (I don't know what the numbers look like side by side). Good luck. I hope it works for you.