Tongs are evil unless you are cooking on a grill. Tongs are rough on food and in general should be avoided for fine cuisine. There isn't much you can't do with a pair of tongs that you can't do more delicately with some spoons and spatulas.
Go buy some sturdy spoons...the Grey Kunz sauce spoons (both large and small) from JB Prince are awesome, I would recommend you invest in a few of those.
I suspect that after you put some time in that place that you will forego tongs in your future jobs, if they use them. Like I said, IMO, the one exception is for the grill, but for anything in a pan or saucepot, spoons are king.
Good luck.