Diane Sawyer: Bartender, Therapist

Oct. 24, 2008 — -- Interviewing hundreds if not thousands of people, from world leaders to celebrities, prepared Diane Sawyer for her "ultimate" job match: bartender.

Each "Good Morning America" anchor took the aptitude test from Self-Directed Search, which is supposed to predict what professions best suit an individual's personality.

Sam Champion has confidence and a belief that "the facts are the facts" -- skills that serve him well as a weatherman but would also work as a judge.

Chris Cuomo's love of people and hands-on manner make him a great reporter, but if that doesn't last, he could find a career as a hairdresser.

And Robin Roberts' emotion and self-expressive nature jump through the camera, and, as she discovered, through song lyrics she wrote.

So where would Diane Sawyer go to fulfill her need to make people happy and help them improve their lives?

Behind a bar, serving drinks, of course.

At Hurley's saloon in midtown Manhattan, Sawyer served drinks to Wall Street brokers worried about their jobs, tourists and struggling young artists working as waiters.

And, then, one very famous bar patron walked in -- George Wendt, a bar regular, who played Norm on the TV show "Cheers."

Wendt works around the corner, starring as Edna Turnblad in the Broadway musical "Hairspray."

"I kicked off the dress and high heels and, as usual, I come over to Hurley's, but you know, I didn't expect to see a new bartender," he said when he saw Sawyer.

Wendt ordered up his usual -- a concoction called the rainbow cone. "You know, a rainbow cone beer." he said. "Take a pint glass, go right on down the line, boom, boom, boom."

Steve Metz, the bartender at Hurley's, served as Sawyer's mentor behind the bar.

"So you are a therapist-bartender-turned friend, companion, world healer?" she asked him.

"You said it, not me, but OK," Metz replied.

Metz shared a few important tricks of the trade with Sawyer, including -- when in doubt, make a drink red.

"If you hand somebody a red drink, they're still so enthused that they have a drink full of liquor that they're gonna drink it," Metz said.