The powers that be decided that forcing everybody to use Chip-and-PIN should start on a memorable date; they chose Valentine's Day so they could use the slogan "I love PIN".
I had wondered if anyone had devoted a moment's thought to the considerable heartache this would cause. Think of millions of men struggling to pay for their romantic evening with a PIN they did not even know they had. Millions of women, having to pay instead of their feeble-minded men, were going to keep their legs brutally crossed for the rest of the evening, as punishment for ruining the romantic mood.
And yes someone had thought of this, because Chip-and-PIN started from midnight and not a minute before.