Is there (any) Future for Remote Work?

Customer: we want everyone in-house.
me: I understand, everybody does. May I ask you whether your business is growing?
Customer: yes, to the point where we can’t catch up with requirements anymore.
me: hm, I see, how long have you been trying to hire software developers locally?
Customer: well, you know, we are not Google, it’s difficult to find and attract good developers, even more challenging to keep them happy, we are aware of the challenge but, remote is not an option!

6-9 months later Customer calls me this time:

we have been talking about you lately Petar and want to hire full SCRUM team with you.
me: that’s great, when do you need it?
Customer: asap (read: yesterday).

Again a couple of months later, this time during Friday evening drink – you know Petar, we should have hired a team with you last year…we were just not sure, it all sounded too good…..the good news is, we need more people next quarter: when can we have them? Can we come on Monday to Serbia to interview them?