Though you may feel dirty afterwards. Or chuck a CD-R of something in there just to see what will happen.
Failing that, treat it like you're rebooting an Etch-a-sketch. :)
I had CD-ROM drive trouble recently - tray was dislodged from its track - and just pulled it apart, put the tray back in place, reassembled the drive and it's been happy ever since. There's usually only a few parts inside, it's easily done, and I didn't manage to upset any of the finely calibrated clever bits.
And if all else fails, it's only a one to two hundred dollars down the tube isn't it?
I'll keep in mind the away-from-eye-level thing though, definitely.
Last time I broke a CD was when I frisbeed a dud CD-R at the wall. Crack! Lots of glitter floating down the stairwell, looked rather pretty :)