UpWork.com Perma-banned Me for Trying to Help an Immigrant Client

During a nearly week-long attempt to assist an immigrant client who was having extreme difficulty figuring out how to use freelance job site UpWork’s program, I finally inadvertently made a suggestion that could have resulted in a violation of UpWork’s Terms of Service, and I got banned from using the site for life.

Update!: The day after this article was published, I was contacted by a member of the UpWork Executive Escalation Team, the decision to ban me was reversed, and my UpWork Account was reinstated!

The funny part is that I am a rule-follower by nature. My much more rebellious and subversive girlfriend makes fun of me constantly about it. You know how there are those lines in a grocery store parking lot that divide one parking space from the space directly in front of it in the next lane? I never cross or pull through those. She thinks that’s hilarious.

“My intent was to help tell the story of a man with a traumatic past who was having a hard time in a situation unfamiliar to him.”

I spent almost 12 years in the military, and I don’t question or violate rules, even the millions of little ones in everyday life that make no sense and seem to have no purpose. I go…