Is there a way I can shut off just the water going to the shower/bath?

What’s directly behind the wall where the shower is? I live in a house, but there’s a small cabinet on the other side of the wall, behind the shower and inside the cabinet I can access the shower controls to turn the water off there. Is there anything like that?

You should be a valve behind the shower. Do you have an access panel?

@lillycoyote @bkcunningham Well, if I go into the furnace room next to the bathroom, I see these two pipes and one is really freaking hot, but I’m not sure if I can actually twist that thingy in the pic and have it turn off (I’m really afraid of fiddling with things and then making it worse).

I think that would be it. Get some pot holders or a towel to protect you from the heat. You really don’t think you can turn off the levers? Do you maybe have a rubber mallet? Every one should have one, really! A hammer might be overkill. And if you afraid of fiddling with things, then why did you ask how do it? :-) They are levers. In the up, vertical position they are on, in the down, horizontal position they are off. You can always turn them back on by lifting the levers back into the upright position, unless you whack them with a hammer and break them or otheriwse mess things up. Just don’t do that. And what about calling your landlord? This does not seem to be the time for a leisurely email. I would keep calling until he pick up. Your tub is going to overflow and damage yours and his property. I imagine he would like to know ASAP. Or she, whatever…

That looks like fairly new plumbing. The lever shouldn’t be rusted. It should be pretty easy to turn it. Yes, it’s probably the one that’s hot since the water is running. Be brave. Flip that lever!
I would have been scared too 20 years ago before I married a contractor.

@lillycoyote Ok, I turned it. And off! Yay!!! I’m really just scared of turning something that could be anything and making it all worse. But if it looks like something that should be turned, then I’m much better. It’s sort of like technophobia, where you’re afraid of trying to print something for fear of breaking the internet, but with plumbing.

Yay @Aethelflaed!!! I do understand your apprehensions though. I have on more than a few occasions tried to fix things only to leave them more broken than they were when I started. It’s always good to be cautious. :-) If the problem was with your furnace, gas range or possibly your hot water heater I would have told you not to mess with it.

@lillycoyote :D

@Aethelflaed LOL. Mission accomplished! One of the things I love about this place.

GA’s all around, and a GQ too, for the community solving a problem together quickly!

@lillycoyote You know, it’s occurring to me that I worded some of this poorly. It would take 15 minutes to fill up the bathtub if I switched on the plug to fill it up; not that all the water wasn’t draining properly. If it was going to overflow, I totally would have called the landlord, but since it was draining, I figured it could wait till morning.

@zenvelo Indeed! I’m quite impressed – good team work, guys!

@zenvelo Exactly. I’m throwing in a GQ too. Just because it’s nice how it worked out.

@Aethelflaed Well, then, I am going to PM @augustlan and petition to have your GQs revoked! Really, you were kind of panicking; under stress. I made the same mistake, or maybe a different mistake, I don’t know, your problem got me kind of stressed out too. I said you should call your landlord because your tub would overflow. I was panicking for you! But the problem has been solved, that’s what counts. Even otherwise intelligent people don’t always have clear heads in these sorts of circumstances.

@lillycoyote Lol, oh, you!

Besides water, leaking hot water faucets also wastes energy. Thanks for doing the responsible thing. Now it can be repaired. The landlord should take care of that for you.
It is not difficult if you have tools. There are many videos that show how.