Edit: OK maybe there's different level of trust and some take a leap of faith :) In my experience debit didn't work but it appears that its not the same everywhere.
When a debit card prompts for a PIN, don’t enter it, press submit, and it runs as credit instead of debit, but functionally works the same as far as the card-holder is concerned. It might take slightly longer to settle, and the merchant likely gets charged higher fees, but it works just fine. When I got my first debit card 20+ years ago my bank specifically told me to select credit and using it, instead of using it with the PIN as a debit card.
These days I’ve noticed the systems tend to auto-prompt for the PIN instead of asking credit or debit. But skipping it functionally works the same as pressing credit used to.
Most people who have terrible credit have still have credit cards.
Debit cards are from banks, not supermarkets. A debit card is backed by a checking account, typically.
Edit: I've also seen it when paying on the cafe car while on train trips in Spain. Even without any cellphone/internet coverage they'll let you pay, but only with credit.
