The pile-up is usually the same ten questions
High volume rarely means every caller has a unique problem. Hours, address, whether you are open, a price range, a department, and a request for a person. Those calls still deserve an answer. They do not each deserve a new hire.
An AI receptionist takes that first pass on every line at once. It does not put caller four on hold because caller one is still talking. Staff hear about the calls that actually need a person.
What the agent should do with the rush
Answer from the facts you wrote down. Collect the name, the number, and the reason. Transfer when the office is open and the right person is the next step. Take a clean message when it is not.
A lunch rush at a restaurant, a Monday morning at a clinic, and a storm day at a landscape company are the same shape. The agent follows the rule for that business instead of improvising.
Where people still belong
Billing disputes, a frightened parent, a vehicle that is not in the notes, and an angry caller who asks for a manager stay with a person. The point of the agent is to get those calls there with the story already collected, not to pretend the staff disappeared.