That is wild! I'm very used to signing receipts as that is the way it is done with a credit card. With debit cards there is a PIN for the debit network, but we're told by the bank to swipe it and sign in (instead of entering a PIN0 order to get the full protection of the Visa network including zero fraud liability even though it comes out the same either way from the consumer's point of view. That usually involves insisting to machine that this is a credit card rather than a debit card.
I only use debit cards (a prepaid Mastercard for small daily purchases and VISA bank debit card for any bigger purchase or to take cash from ATM, plus my business debit card for any expenses while working so it takes money from my business account and not personal) and they always have a chip & PIN. I guess credit cards might work differently as you want to be able to charge back. With debit card there are no charge backs so it makes sense to always use chip & PIN process because it's very secure even though slower.
There is debate about the security of the PIN when the POS has been compromised. So the threat is that your PIN gets stolen and then you have to dispute unauthorized charges against your bank without the protection of Visa or MasterCard's fraud protection.
