“Your usefulness is at an end”.
You see that glow flashing in the corner of your eye ? That’s your career dissipation light . It just went into high gear.
… Jim Caviezel starts hanging around you.
You have to sit in the passenger seat because Clemenza is already filling up the back seat.
You realize that you are the only person in the group who is wearing a red shirt.
…Ted McGinley shows up at your party.
I’m not 100% sure this fits here, but if you’re a cop (in a TV show) and the front door of a residence or apartment is unlocked and slightly ajar, there’s always a dead body in there.
There’s a group of detectives who always seem to have interesting cases, you’re not part of that group. Normally they do all the witness interviewing and such themselves, but today they’ve radioed and asked you to talk to a witness.
You’re an airline flight attendant and your passengers include a shifty-eyed, nervous man; an adorable child with a life-threatening disease; a young couple on their honeymoon; and a pilot with personal problems.
Why is everything so quiet all of a sudden?
The camera focuses on your keys as you start your car (or shows you starting your car at all)
You realize you only have ten days until retirement…
It’s quiet around here…too quiet.
When George Kennedy walks onto your plane.
When a villain walks into your office.
Your carrying A baguette, A few oranges and a couple of cans of food.
A cat appears suddenly behind you.
You’re exploring a new potential residence and your dog whines and either
a) won’t follow you up the stairs, or
b) won’t follow you down the basement stairs.
You’re walking through a parking structure late at night.
Or jogging in the dark. You know, as people do.
You have an argument with your wife/girlfriend over how you’ve been emotionally distant lately, and then you get on a boat.
Or does follow you down the basement stairs but will NOT stop digging at that one corner. The one where the dirt floor appears to have been…disturbed.
You’re character on a whodunnit played by a guest-starring major actor who is clearly paid too much to be written into the whole episode (if you are played by guest-starring major actor and they do have enough to pay you for the whole episode then you are clearly the murderer, particularly if the actor is famous for playing nice roles).
Your boss asked if you told anything else about that weird file you found.
You’ve figured out whodunnit. You call the investigator and tell them to meet you and you’ll explain everything.