

Not all cd players had an accessible lens. A car deck had a slot insert and there was no way to get at the lens without disassembling the whole thing.
Computer CD players also had a tray that extended so the lens was mostly hidden.
Boomboxes and portable CD players had pop up lids where you could see the lens, but there were probably an equal number of players where you couldn’t access it.
This is 100% a painter who’s worked with this person/company before. In the contract I’m betting it says “before we paint, remove all utilities and covers from the wall, anything left will be painted”
The first six times they did the work, stuff was left up, and they spent an hour removing everything before they started. This time, they said fuck it. We told you to take it down, this is what you’re getting now.