Tif Arshi and PSW Direct?

Support Workers, I hope you got a chance to see the first ‘In The Spotlight’ interview with Erica Monteith. Watch for more interviews. They are a work in progress. Some hits; some misses; the very first one, however, was a huge miss.

It started with me browsing Facebook and seeing so many folks advertising their PSW staffing platforms. Where is this need coming from?! Just a reminder: I work as a rehab assistant, not as a PSW, so I don’t fully understand the industry well enough to assess the drivers behind these platforms. Apparently, they are to cut out the middleman, with agencies charging exorbitant rates to hire PSWs and connect them with customers. With no middleman, PSWs earn more and customers pay less.

Anyway, I wanted to be filled in more, so I reached out to a few folks pitching these platforms. Some never responded. A few answered but never followed up with my requests for Zoom meetings.

Tif Arshi, however, was different. Not only did he message me back literally seconds after I texted him, but he also gave me his number to call, which I did.

Hearing Tif’s voice for the first time, my thought was ‘this guy sounds drunk’. Maybe he was; maybe it was just a speech impediment, but I thought, what’s the harm in hearing him out?

I introduced myself by bringing up my Support Workers’ Times blog and told Tif I was interested in learning about his PSW Direct platform. I suggested that I could write a blog post about the platform. I then gave Tif the floor to fill me in on PSW Direct, which he coined as the Uber business for PSWs.

Tif then jumped right away into a lengthy story. I’ll summarize.

Tif explained that he was new to the PSW field, having worked as an Ophthalmologist, doing cataract surgeries. He mentioned that what got him involved in the PSW business was having an ailing, elderly mother who needed time-to-time PSW assistance. He added that the hospital that she was connected with was not only not attentive to her medical needs, but was also negligent in providing the PSW help. The poor medical care spirraled down hill from there and culminated with Tif coming home from work one day and finding his mother passed out in a pool of blood.

Tif concluded by expressing his disgust that hospitals were committing highway robbery by charging ridiculous rates for their PSW services. This disgust spurred him to launch PSW Direct, an on-demand service where working-age adults find PSWs to care for their retired parents and are matched based on their language preference.

Tif’s drunken voice aside, I remembered being impressed with his story, and I told him so. I added that a write-up in my blog would not do his story justice. I suggested instead that an in-person interview would be better. I even offered to drive out to his home in Barrie for the interview.

Tif accepted, and we arranged to meet at this place on Victoria Day around noon.

Victoria Day came, and I picked up my cameraman from Mississauga to head out Tif’s way for the interview. I then texted Tif to say I was running late but that we were on our way. No response! I then called Tif — no response — and left a message that we were on our way.

Tif called me back a few minutes later. He mentioned he thought we agreed I would confirm the visit the day before I came. Hhmmnn?! That wasn’t what was agreed. Tif nevertheless OK’d the visit and said he would be waiting for me.

My cameraman, sitting beside me and hearing him on the car speaker, quibbed, ‘Why does he sound drunk? ’ Embarrassed and nervous, I agreed, ‘Exactly!’’

Arriving in a suburban neighborhood in North Barrie, we pulled up to Tif’s modest bungalow. We then parked in the driveway, exited the vehicle, ascended the front porch steps, and knocked at the door.

An elderly East Indian lady (maybe Tif’s mother - why did I assume from the story that she died?) and a young East Indian woman (maybe Tif’s sister or wife) answered the door. We then greeted them and explained that we were there for a scheduled interview with Tif.

Both ladies stared at us, cold and nervous. They explained that they knew nothing about the interview, and Tff was not home. They then asked us to leave.

Around the same time, a younger man (maybe Tiff’s brother) driving a landscaping truck pulled into the driveway. After he got out of his vehicle and stared up at us, we explained to him that we were there for an interview with Tif about his PSW Direct company. Appearing shocked, he exclaimed, ‘You’re really here to interview with Tif?!’ He then told us to wait and said Tiff would be out shortly before he disappeared through a side door.

After several more minutes waiting at the porch door, the two women opened it again and asked us to leave. We then returned to the car to wait.

Several more minutes of waiting in the car, and again the two women peered out their door and called to us to leave their property. We complied.

Frustrated, we then drove to a nearby Tim Horton’s as a reprieve and to digest the situation. Sullen and angry, I thought, why can nothing ever go smooth with the support work field? Not the work, or clients, or staff, or even a lousy interview for my blog! As my cameraman continued to question me about not picking up on the signs that Tif was a fake, my frustration grew.

Resigned, I suggested to my cameraman that things were a bust and we should head back to the city. My cameraman then asked if I was sure and whether I didn’t want to wait a little more for Tif to call. I responded that I was not interested in doing so, and we should just give up.

About 100 meters before swerving on the ramp to head back to the City, guess who called? You guessed it – Tif! I answered and growled at him that we had waited at his house and he hadn’t shown up. He then replied that he was standing in his driveway as we spoke. He then asked us to return.

I was about to refuse, but my cameraman suggested that we give him one more chance to prove that he wasn’t a total fraud. I reluctantly agreed.

Pulling up again in his driveway and getting out of the vehicle, we met a late-30-ish, scruffy East Indian man with scrapes and bruises on his face and arms. With slurred speech and appearing sluggish, Tif presented very much as an addict.

Sternly, the first words I barked at him were, ‘Why are you scamming PSWs, Tif?’

With an animated gesture, Tif flatly denied that he was scamming PSW. He insisted that he was running a legitimate business and that he had the documents to prove it. He talked about the rate he paid PSWs and how he was making their government deductions. He suggested we were still welcome inside his home for an interview. I refused.

Still insisting that he was not a fraud, Tif got on the phone to a ‘Captain John’ colleague who knew him and would vouch for him that he was operating a legitimate business. Tif started his chat with, “Captain John, I have Arthur here. Tell him you know me. Tell Foster that I am not scamming PSWs.”

Oh, God! The guy couldn’t even remember my name over a few sentences! The most freaking, famous name in the world!

I then signaled to my cameraman that we should leave, and without even saying goodbye to Tif, we returned to the car.

Backing out of the driveway, we saw Tif ascend his front porch steps and walk through the front door of the house, which we were told an hour earlier he was not at.

So, is Tif and PSW Direct a scam? I cannot say with absolute certainty that they are, but all the signs point that way. I really do hope Tif reads this piece and provides a defense. Until then, it really is a case of buyer beware.