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Chilies make cooking interesting but can also bring pain and suffering.  The heat or pungency of  varies enormously between species.  Some masochist devoted part of his life to defining a scale which gives some warning of what a chili might do to the human body.  This is the Scoville scale which is based on the parts per million dilution in water at which the pungent element within a chili is detectable by the human taste mechanism.

Sadly, in the UK, chilies are often only identified by the country of origin which provides little or no information on potential culinary use.  Anything marked as "Zimbabwe" or "Thailand" is probably very hot, "Mexico" or "USA" are variable and treat anything originating in Oxford or Sussex with respect, surprisingly some of the most useable chilies in the UK are homegrown.

Don't bite into a chili about which you know little.  Swilling a glass of water won't provide much relief because the active agent is not water soluble.  Ice cream and yogurt provide some relief as do high alcohol sprits, but you have to spit them out as you don't want to ingest the material that is causing pain.

Don't rub your eyes or pick your nose whilst preparing chilies.