Here is a solution from Github that worked for me on Magento 2.4.2 github.com/dmitrykazak/magento2-custom-option-default-value

I believe this issue has to do with recently moving to MySQL 8. We are still working on the issue

If my solution worked will you select it as the correct answer. I would appreciate it :)

You have to create a new custom theme if you do not already have one in order to make changes to the Magento code. Then you would copy the code to the above folder replacing "Vendor" with the name vendor name of your theme and "Theme" with the theme name. Here is a link to create a new storefront theme in Magento 2. devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.4/frontend-dev-guide/themes/…

How would a product get stuck in the cart transferring from customer to customer. Could it be a server issue?

I've disabled several modules and updated others. The issue still persists. Somehow when a customer adds a product to their cart, another customer will have the same item added to their cart.

I just disabled a plugin Yireo_Webp2 and that seemed to fix the add to cart issue, but yes, now the mini cart is adding a different item once the product quantity is increased

I'll update my answer to better respond to your new query. Let me know if that is still not what you're looking for