I would avoid using the Operation that did your training in the future.
I observed a lot of OW students both at the Blue Hole, NM, and in the Keys where on a couple of dives instructors had students on the boat doing the checkout dives.
I've never witnessed the things you describe from either PADI, NAUI, or SSI which are the three agencies that I've observed doing certs.
I my Open Water checkout, if you did not pass a skill, you did it again. If you failed it repeatedly, then you would not pass the course, however that did not happen with any of the students in our checkout dives. But I was there, and they ALL did the skills, and some repeated them when they did not get it right the first time. So, YES, there are instructors out there who are very careful about how they go about the instruction, skill tests, and in general REALLY want to make sure that certified divers have the skills necessary to start diving.
Overcrowding a boat, not taking the time to make sure students understand how their gear goes together, and passing students who fail to meet the training requirmenets is unexcusable. In fact the students should not have passed the pool dives if they could not assemble their gear, or perform the skills.
You should be happy to note that this is NOT a PADI thing, or even an agency thing, but a Training issue with the Dive OP you certified with. If you feel so inclined, I would report this Dive Op to PADI, and note the issues you had with the OW checkout dives. PADI would definately take some sort of action if they were aware that people were getting certified that were not qualified, or at least I beleive they would...
In any event don't get discouraged. You need to find some seasoned dive buddys, take it slow, and start diving. This board is a GREAT way to meet divers, and I've dove with SB members from FL, to UT, to NM, and of course in CO. By in large SB divers are good divers. Having safe, solid and experienced people to dive with is a big help. Diving is awesome, and I think once you start doing so you will discover two things...
1) Diviing is a great way to spend a lot of money on Dive STUFF, and potentially even more on Travel to dive!
2) Diving is Addictive, fun, and opens up new worlds (literally). The first time I witnessed sea turtles, huge coral formations, thousands of fish, etc.. was just THRILLING, and I doubt I'll grow tired of it in my lifetime.