Why do some companies call employees ociates and customers are referred to as guests?

I am getting sick of many companies referring to their employees as ociates! As an example I have called companies where I have been put on hold and while waiting I have heard the following ridicoulous statement: 'all of our ociates are busy isting other customers - please stay on the line and an ociate will soon ist you'. What is wrong with the term 'Customer Service Representative'? Places like Wal-Mart and the HomeDepot like to call their employees associates. The other part of my gripe is why do many retailers refer to their customers as 'guests'? I am of the old school where I may be a guest in a hotel, a patron in a restaurant but in a hardware store or a department store to have 'associates serving guests' seems to me to be too politically correct. Are they trying to placate minimum wage employees by giving them titles but no real pay and elevating the status of the people they are dealing with the patronizing title of guest?