What it means
A piece of work is someone who's a nightmare to deal with, awkward, rude, exhausting, or always bringing some fresh bit of chaos. You usually say it with a tired eye-roll when they've well and truly worn out your patience. It can be light between mates, but most times it's a polite-ish way of saying someone's a proper pain.
Usage examples
"The new manager’s a proper piece of work, banned lunch at desks and stuck a bell by the kettle. Now she pings it like we’re in primary school, absolute shambles"
"The new tenant in the flat above is a real piece of work, complains about the smell of dinner cooking, vacuums at half ten at night, and turns out to have planted a fake fig tree on the communal landing."
"My boss is a piece of work, asks for the report on a Friday at five and then wants the version with the colour graphs included before Monday morning standup, like the printer prints itself overnight."
"Your cousin’s a real piece of work, turned up two hours late, ate half the birthday cake, then complained it was dry."
"I tried helping the bloke at the front desk and he was a piece of work, snapping at everyone like the queue personally offended him."
Where it comes from
The phrase is old in English and originally had a positive sense, meaning a creation or specimen, as in Hamlet's what a piece of work is a man. Over time the shine flipped into irony, and by the 19th century it was being used for a difficult, odd, or maddening person.
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