Hello @noliac1
There are a number of minor things this could be, and it may be more than one of the following.
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The tapering end caps where you have loops suggests to me that you are performing an “inlfate” operation, not a scale. You can inflate while Ctrl dragging on the inner square of the Gizmo manipulator, and it would be easy to mistarget this if the manipulator is at an odd angle. You dual axis scale by alt dragging on the outer rectangles of the default manipulator.
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Are you sure the mesh is completely globally aligned correctly? Is it off axis?
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Are you sure the Gizmo Manipulator is aligned correctly? This one is easy to fix. Unlock the Gizmo Lock Icon, and activate “Reset Mesh Orientation” (be sure to unlock first or your mesh will be re-positioned). Re-lock the manipulator.
See if any of those address your issue before we dive a bit deeper.