....all I need to cook just about anything on a flat top........
Trooper, I think this is a key part of your point. When I was short-order cooking I never owned a set of tongs either---not because they were banned, but because they are, indeed, unnecessary on a flat-top. There are no edges and sidewalls getting in the way of the spats, so there isn't too much you can't do with them in terms of flipping, turning, and even stirring.
Once you shift over to pans & skillets as the primary cooking surfaces, tongs can be much more efficient tools. Nor is there any reason I can think of for tongs to damage meat. The major exception, of course, being fish. But with fish, even a standard spatula can be the wrong tool.