I'm fine around formal authority figures, like bosses, police officers, teachers, store security, etc. Sure, they hold the power, but they're limited by law what they can do, and when they overstep the boundaries, I can easily seek recourse. If a boss fires me with no valid reason, I can go to court. If a police officers beats me, I can complain to the senior management of the police, and have the guy convicted. If a teachers gives me an unfair grade, I can take the matter with the dean.
The kind of authority figures that I'm really uncomfortable around are informal authority figures, such as bouncers. A bouncers can easily beat me unconscious, just because he doesn't like the way I looked at him. Then he'll just say I looked dangerous, people will believe him, and my insurance won't even cover my medical bills.
Security guards (not bouncers) are a little bit of both. I'm very glad they're there to protect me from vicious people who act on their base instincts and emotions. At the same time, I'm very paranoid about doing something to make the security guy think I'm dangerous (and not even realize what exactly I did), causing him to retaliate big time.