In that case, I don’t think it can be argued that they are front line and in potentially dangerous situations.
As a retired teacher, it’s not available to me, but I think it’s fair to say that most teachers are likely to face more aggression than someone who has a job typing up reports or making appointments, valuable though that is.
During my career, I’ve been sworn at, kicked, strangled, stolen from, pushed, shoved, threatened with a knife and been subjected to an arson attack. Not every day, but regularly enough for it to be the norm, so it’s easy to see how frustrating it is for those in the profession to hear the same old stories about short days and long holidays. None of which are true.
Why does it have to be a race to the bottom? There seem to be varying opinions as to the value of it anyway. It is, as has been said, a marketing tool and there has to be value in it for the shops etc that accept it, otherwise they wouldn’t.
Lots of organisations have a bonus scheme or perks of different types. I suppose we could complain about all of those too, but it really does always seem that so many people are resentful of teachers, whilst in the same breath, being adamant that they couldn’t do the job.