I'm in Europe, in case you're on the "wrong" side of the pump you just have to make sure that you park the car a little further, so you'd get the pump hose through the back and on to the other side without scratching the car's paint. That's all it is to it. I'm from Romania and I've driven (and hence re-fueled) my car all the way from Bretagne, France, to Peloponnese, Greece, never had a problem.
I also don't know anything about any "arrow" signalling anything in my dashboard, maybe it's only on the US-made cars, I wouldn't know cause I generally know on which side I have to fuel my car.
I do not know where you are in the world but in the homeland of the English language, Britain and most of its direct (former!) colonies, "petrol" is the stuff cars and motorbikes run on and "diesel" is the stuff agricultural vehicles and heavy plant (lorries, buses) runs on. "Gas" is a phase of matter along with "liquid", "solid", and "plasma" and that is all the bare noun means. "Natural gas", and the obsolete "coal gas"/"town gas", are fuels, but for heating/cooking/light not vehicles as a rule, but generally we'd talk about propane, butane, etc.
We never, ever use "gasoline" or the Germanic "benzene" for this. Benzene is a specific chemical here, never ever a fuel.
Agreed about never having a problem with this, but our cars either have the arrow, or the hose in the icon is on the side of the car that has the tank cover. This has been true for all cars I've seen here.
I also don't know anything about any "arrow" signalling anything in my dashboard, maybe it's only on the US-made cars, I wouldn't know cause I generally know on which side I have to fuel my car.