When Microsoft Customer Support knows less than a common user.

Bit of back story: I work at an inbound phone tech support center for a nationwide retail technology chain. We troubleshoot anything and everything that the company sells.

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So today at work, I sat down at my cubicle to notice that my supervisor had installed Windows 8 on my work desktop. Unfortunately, he had neglected to activate the installation. So I proceed to try the normal activation steps and get an error code that our Multiple Activation Key license had been activated too many times. So I called Microsoft.

This is where it gets fun.

The first person I talked to was very calm and upon finding out that I was trying to activate Windows 8 Enterprise, he transferred me over to an "activation specialist". This specialist proceeds to ask me for my installation key. As I don't have it handy, I inform him that I have the product key and asked if we could use that. He said no and asked for my installation key again.

When I told him that I wasn't exactly sure where to retrieve that key from, he proceeded to try walking me through finding it. Here's how the conversation went:

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Me: "I don't know exactly where I need to go to get that for you."

Him: "Ok, I will walk you through it. I need you to click on your Start button."

Me: "Well, I'm looking at the Tile Screen right now, where do you need me to go?"

Him: "No, sir, I need you to click your Start button."

facepalm

Me: "This is Windows 8. I don't have a Start button."

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He then proceeded to get very frustrated with me and start talking to me like I was a child. He informed me that I needed to call a different number because he couldn't help me.

30 minutes and 3 transfers later, I finally got back to the same department, but someone who actually knew what the hell they were doing. She got it activated within minutes of getting connected to her.

TL;DR: Windows 8 doesn't have a Start button? What is this black magic?

Edit: Added back story at the top.